One More Time: The Stakes of the Fiscal Cliff

One More Time: The Stakes of the Fiscal Cliff

President Obama is on his way back to Washington, as the Associated Press reports that he's "cutting short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii, planning to leave for Washington on Wednesday evening... expected to arrive in Washington early Thursday." Most Americans probably won't sympathize that the President has a short vacation - after all, at work, he didn't get that big project finished in time for the holidays.

The elements of the fiscal cliff can be roughly divided into four categories: defense spending cuts, non-defense spending cuts, income tax hikes, and payroll tax hikes. Of these, what has gotten the...