What if the US Goes over the 'Fiscal Cliff?'

Just after the election three weeks ago, leaders of both parties posed for pictures at the Obama White House and vowed to avoid another dramatic confrontation over the so-called "fiscal cliff" looming at the end of the year. Making a real deal is another matter, with both sides back to familiar public posturing with no reports of progress in private. This week, the President is conducting a very public campaign to raise taxes on three million families who make more than $250,000 year. At the same time, Republicans have been drawing their own lines in the sand. Would actually going over the "cliff" be so bad after all? Would it really send the economy spinning back into recession? Would it set off a scramble to resolve long-term issues once and for all? We hear predictions of financial disaster, and from the "Thelma and Louise Caucus," which says the best action is no action at all.