OTHERS SAY

Now for action on economy

— No one should be surprised that the presidential election has been so close. For weeks, opinion polls have told us it would be. Now that Election Day is done, there is no time to waste before resolving some urgent problems.

President Barack Obama must focus attention on the “lame-duck” session of Congress that begins next week and intensifies after Thanksgiving.

The so-called “fiscal cliff,” the combination of tax increases and federal spending cuts scheduled to go into effect after the end of the year, could send the economy spiraling downward again. There are ways to avoid that, but they require both presidential and congressional leadership. In fact, they require the kind of compromise we have not seen while the election season has kept both Republicans and Democrats in hardened ideological bunkers.

The deficit is a serious economic problem on its own, but the fiscal cliff is a suicide jump.

The cliff is a creature of Congress. There is no magic to the Dec. 31 deadline. Congress could prolong action until next year.

Presidential leadership will be put to the test right away.

Editorial, Pages 22 on 11/08/2012

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