As the presidential elections draw near, the nation's debt woes are coming into clearer focus—and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch Global Research warns that the "fiscal cliff" is bigger than most market observers imagine.
The fiscal cliff, off which U.S. taxpayers may have to leap on Jan. 1, 2013, if the Bush tax cuts expire, is seen as being the inevitable consequence of Washington lawmakers' infighting unless President Obama and Congress honestly confront this deadline in an election year.
Further, according to BofA-Merrill's analyst team at a midyear press conference on Wednesday in New York, any positive budgetary effect of the tax increases would be overshadowed by the growing burden of the U.S. debt ceiling as spending and hiring decisions are put on hold and the election heightens partisanship.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
