Fiscal Cliff Doesn’t Look So Bad After the Fall

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Just when you thought you couldforget about the fiscal cliff and focus on the Republican andDemocratic conventions instead, along comes the CongressionalBudget Office to remind us of the impending threat.

In its midyear budget and economic outlook last week, theCBO tweaked its forecast in the event Congress fails to preventan array of tax increases and automatic spending cuts -- $1.2trillion over 10 years -- from kicking in at the start of 2013.Such “fiscal tightening” would cut gross domestic product by0.5 percent next year, with the hit concentrated in the firsthalf, and increase the unemployment rate to 9 percent.