US Economy Heading Toward the Fiscal Cliff

摘要

How's this for a conundrum: If the U.S. Congress does nothing prior to Jan. 1 to prevent the full fiscal cliff from occurring, the country will almost certainly slip back into recession, predicts Jason Thomas, director of research for The Carlyle Group. The immediate result, he says, will be "a short-term disaster." However, this also would result in a dramatic lowering of the deficit, by just over $600 billion, which could ultimately lead to faster growth in 2014 and robust growth by 2017.