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anxious, perhaps, to learn who their new leaders will be, why they might have more at stake than we do. but first here s my take. whoever wins the election on tuesday, on wednesday either barack obama or mitt romney will have to start worrying about the same urgent challenge, how to stop the united states from falling over the fiscal cliff. this is, of course, the second cliff hanger that the united states has faced in two years, the first being the debt ceiling debacle. how did the world s greatest democracy start functioning so badly? maybe the next president can try to fix this broader problem. but first the fiscal cliff. unless congress acts, the spending cuts and tack increases that would be triggered automatically next january would take 5.1% out of the country s gdp in one year according to the congressional budget office. that would be one of the most severe experiments with austerity in history, larger than anything greece, spain, italy, or the united kingdom h ....

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