EU flags in front of the Berlaymont Building, headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium (Image: jorisvo/shutterstock.com).
Armchair economists and political pundits are wailing about the impending year-end “fiscal cliff.” If Congress and the President do nothing, the Bush tax cuts will expire; an automatic sequester will hit the Pentagon and various “discretionary” programs; and a gaggle of temporary tax cuts, from the alternative minimum tax “patch” to a Social Security payroll tax cut and similar “stimulus” measures are scheduled to terminate. Forecasters warn that the triple hit might subtract something like 2.5 percent from economic output and reduce already-anemic GDP growth by a percent or so. Defense analysts and Pentagon officials warn of budget cuts that…
