The US economy has been limping along with a growth rate of less than 2% during the past year, with similarly dim prospects in 2013, even without the shock of the fiscal cliff.  That is much too weak a pace of expansion to tolerate the fiscal cliff’s increase in tax rates and spending cuts, which would reduce demand by a total of $600 billion – about 4% of GDP – next year, and by larger sums in subsequent years.
L’économie américaine s’est débattue l’an dernier avec un taux de croissance inférieur à 2%, les perspectives semblant tout aussi assombries pour 2013, même en l’absence du choc de la falaise budgétaire.