Cliff may be good

Recent stories say that going over the fiscal cliff will lead to a recession and unemployment rising to 9.1 percent in 2013.

The same Congressional Budget Office study said the recession will be brief, with robust growth resuming in 2014, unemployment falling and the deficit falling to zero by 2017, and the debt/GDP ratio falling. All without shredding the Social Security and Medicare safety nets.

This may not be the best policy, but at least you should acknowledge that it is an approach that “deals with the fiscal problem,” unlike averting the cliff, which only postpones dealing with the problem.

John Pilgrim

Cary