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All aboard [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

U.S. President Barack Obama and Congress leaders met Friday to discuss how to dodge the so-called "fiscal cliff" in the first round of tense and time-consuming negotiations before a Dec. 31 deadline.

However, the two sides did not make much headway in bridging their differences over spending cuts and tax hikes. It seems that neither party is willing to courageously compromise with the other before hitting the deadline.

Washington has a notorious tradition of political brinkmanship and does not compromise until the last minute as the two parties try to secure maximum gains from the process of bargaining.

In order to pare the current enormous federal deficit of 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars, the Democrats favor raising taxes for the wealthy, while the Republicans, with a majority in the House of Representatives, are opposed to such a measure.

If politicians in Washington fail to solve the crisis once and for all by the end of the year, then higher tax rates and across-the-board spending cuts in federal programs would be initiated automatically as the new year begins.

The potential failure, according to U.S. analysts, may plunge the country into another recession and growth for 2013 would be minus 0.5 percent instead of the 2 percent predicted by economists.

According to official estimate, unemployment in 2013 will probably exceed 9 percent, the highest in over two decades, if the world's largest economy falls off the "cliff."

Moreover, the fiscal troubles will surely whittle down foreign investor confidence in the U.S. economy.

Even if the high-profile tax and budget fight could finally come to a happy ending, the months-long tug of war would fray the nerves of the global market and cast a shadow over the flagging world economy.

U.S. economic turbulence does not stop at America's doors.

The United States, the world's sole super power, has close economic ties with many countries around the globe, and holds great sway over the global economy.

A U.S. economic recession would undoubtedly affect the economies of its trading partners, and thus hold back economic recovery worldwide.

China and the United States are now each other's second biggest trading partners. China's exports to the U.S. market were as high as 283.3 billion dollars in 2010, accounting for about 18 percent of China's total exports.

A U.S. recession, without doubt, would dent China's economy.

That's why the global community, including China, has closely followed the wrangling in Washington.

The clock is ticking, and not much time is left for the White House and Congress to settle their disputes.

The Democrats and the Republicans perhaps should make stronger efforts to put U.S. fiscal house in order as soon as possible for the benefit of the U.S. and the economies around the world.

 

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