The Latest On The Fiscal Cliff

We’ll get the latest from the edge as the nation hurtles towards the fiscal cliff.

Well now, here we are.  Christmas Eve, and our fearless leaders in Washington have not figured out how to keep us from going over the famous fiscal cliff.  Maybe they think Santa Claus will take care of it.  Or Christmas elves.  Or Rudolph.  But the reality is, next week higher tax rates kick in across the board without some intervention.

Broad-axe spending cuts.  Millions of unemployment checks will stop.  Economists warn it’s a recipe for recession.  And we’ve had enough of that.  Merry Christmas!

This hour, On Point:  staring at our cliff-dive.
-Tom Ashbrook

Major Garrett, Chief White House correspondent for CBS News.

Nancy Cook, budget and tax correspondent for National Journal.

New York Review Of Books "This is all the more distressing since it is not at all clear that a $2 trillion deficit reduction over ten years is even necessary to stabilize America’s finances. The projections are based on a conservative estimate of potential economic growth by the Congressional Budget Office. Yet even the $2 trillion objective is well below proposals made by others. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the chairmen of Obama’s budget balancing commission, are seeking, according to their original plan, another $4.6 trillion in spending cuts and tax increases."

New York Times "With House Republicans’ revolt over their leader’s tax plan the evening before, President Obama on Friday faced the challenge of finding a new tax-and-spending solution — perhaps working now with Senate Republicans — to prevent a looming fiscal crisis in January."

Wall Street Journal "House Speaker Boehner, facing a rebellion in his party, abandoned plan to avert tax increases for most Americans, throwing budget negotiations into disarray."