but, remember that republican orthodoxy now, which is to say the republican lie now, the republican economic insanity now is that government spending does not affect jobs in any way. doesn't create jobs. but there's boehner saying that cuts in government spending will tank the economy, just as cbo says it will, and will increase unemployment. of course, we will not go into recession if we actually do go off the cliff on january 1st, because what will happen is congress will immediately go into emergency negotiations to pass a package of new, lower-income tax rates, and the democrats should then have enough leverage to prevent the top tax bracket from being lowered along with all the other rates. and congress can also simply agree to vote to eliminate the drastic spending cuts that would tank the economy, or dramatically reduce those spending cuts and stretch them