The "fiscal cliff" is just a phrase used by Bernanke to get the GOP rank and file to admit that Economics in not just a number of pronouncements from the "conservative" think tanks and that austerity can lead to recession. It has done its job. President Obama will continue the PR campaign until Dec 31 when the tax breaks expire. After which the starting point for negotiations get a whole lot more favorable for him. His proposals during the election were pretty modest. I think he will see them all come to pass, more revenue, more money for infrastructure, a few more billion for education.

Will it be enough to address our debt problem? Only with robust economic growth worldwide, Only Europe can address that. Until then we have to keep the dollar down and the interest rates down. Hence the gloomy talk and things like quantitative easing.