CBO warns politicians not to ignore coming fiscal cliff

The Congressional Budget Office warns that if the spending cuts and tax hikes go ahead as scheduled next January there will likely be a recession in the U.S. However they predicted that by the second half of the year there would be a rebound to an annual 2.3 growth rate. For the full year growth would be just .5 per cent.

While there is plenty of worry about the debt situation in Greece, the so called fiscal cliff facing the U.S. at the end of this year seems to be conveniently ignored. The political deal arranged last year would see an immediate cut of 1.2 billion from government spending while billions in tax cuts also expire. Consumer demand for many items would obviously contract.

Most analysts expect a new deal will be reached by the two parties yet it seems that both parties are concentrating on the coming elections rather than facing up to the issue. If the scheduled policies are removed or offset the CBO estimates the U.S. economy could grow at 4.4 per cent a respectable growth rate given the U.S. situation.

Ben Bernanke warned back in April::“The size of the fiscal cliff is such that there is, I think, absolutely no chance that the Federal Reserve could or would have the ability whatsoever to offset that effect on the economy,” The politicians should get moving on this issue or they will find they are faced with a crisis in November. For more see this article.