The U.S. economy faces deeper problems, though immediate danger subsided As if watching a replay of the fight over the U.S. national debt ceiling in 2011, the crisis billed as the “fiscal cliff” ended up with a last-minute compromise between thetwo major political parties of the United States. The US economy faces deeper problems, though immediate danger subsided As if watching a replay of the fight over the US national debt ceiling in 2011, the crisis billed as the “fiscal cliff” ended up with a last-minute compromise between thetwo major political parties of the United States.