It’s no wonder so many investors can’t think past Jan. 2. After all, the financial media have trumpeted that date as doomsday as often as tabloids did the end of the Mayan calendar earlier this month.
To be sure, if Washington fails to agree on a deal to soften the so-called fiscal cliff, the resulting slew of automatic tax increases and federal spending cuts will have a deleterious effect on the US economy. In fact, growth could turn negative.