Two Sides ‘Nowhere’ In Face of Disaster Threat

* For U.S. Congress, big deals wait for Christmas

* “Smell of jet fumes” sometimes the most powerful force

Watching the events of the past few weeks, you could have gotten the idea that the United States is not only going to slip from the “fiscal cliff” but jump lemming-like off it.

President Barack Obama presented last week a proposal that upset Republicans with its $1.6 trillion in revenue increases and limited spending cuts and then goaded them while on the road at a toy factory with jokes meant to paint the Republicans as Scrooges.

His main Republican sparring partner, Speaker of the U.S House of Representatives John Boehner, then declared in a series of public appearances that the two sides are “nowhere.”

CONTINUED at the Huffington Post.