In striking the right balance between immediate economic stimulus and medium-term fiscal sustainability, the most urgent step will be to counter properly the looming fiscal cliff, as temporary tax cuts expire and deep, across-the-board spending reductions kick in automatically. Failure to do so would significantly increase the risk of an outright American recession.
在寻求短期经济刺激和中期财政可持续性之间的平衡的过程中，最要紧的步骤是合理处置因暂时性减税政策到期结束以及深度跨部门削减支出自动开始所导致的财政悬崖。在这方面失败将大大增加美国陷入全面衰退的风险。