Taking sides on the 'fiscal cliff'

One month remains until all of the Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire, along with Obama stimulus measures like the payroll-tax holiday — just as the government prepares to make deep cuts in federal spending (known as sequestration) that were negotiated as part of a 2011 deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that taking more than $500 billion out of a still lukewarm economy through tax increases and spending cuts would probably put the economy back into recession.