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.
La economía estadounidense ha avanzado con dificultad de la mano de una tasa de crecimiento de menos del 2% durante el pasado año, y las perspectivas para el 2013 son igualmente sombrías, aún sin el impacto del abismo fiscal.