The deal raises tax rates on entrepreneurs, investors, small business owners, and other “rich” taxpayers, and postpones the sequester budget cuts. Cato scholar Daniel J. Mitchell comments, “This deal is not good for the economy. It doesn’t do anything to cap the burden of government spending. It doesn’t reform entitlement programs. …This is sort of like a late Christmas present, but we must have been naughty all year long and taxpayers are getting lumps of coal.”

• “Grading the Fiscal Cliff Deal: Terrible, but Could Be Worse,” by Daniel J. Mitchell
• “The Spending Cliff,” by Michael D. Tanner
• “A CEO’s Advice to Congress,” by John A. Allison
• “On to the Next Manufactured Fiscal Crisis,” by Tad DeHaven