Q&A: The US fiscal cliff
- Published
A deal on the so-called "fiscal cliff" has been reached.
A 31 December deadline focused the minds of politicians, but it came down to the wire.
The US only managed to pass legislation to impose higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans and postpone the start of big spending cuts on 1 January.
Failure to reach a deal would probably have sent the US economy back into recession.
What was the fiscal cliff?
Crisis jargon buster
Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:
AAA-rating
The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower's debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.
How did we get to the deal?
What is the deal?
What happens next?
What would have happened if we had sailed over the cliff?