Not even the time to be re-elected that the first threats arrive. The sender is once again a rating agency. The recipient is triple A from the United States. A few from confirmation of Barack Obama in the White House, Fitch issues a statement threatening to downgrade the United States if the administration does not resolve the so-called "fiscal cliff" issue.
This expression (literally "fiscal cliff") refers to an automatic mechanism that threatens to send the US accounts into the red for next year. This is the combined effect of automatic spending cuts and an increase in the tax burden. Taxes risk rising because the bonuses approved by the Bush administration and extended by Obama will expire next January.
The real challenge at this point is to find the political agreement to renew bonuses and at the same time avoid spending cuts. Not an easy task, given that the elections have confirmed the split in Congress: the Republicans maintain control of the Chamber, the Democrats of the Senate.
