Tom Clougherty on Why America Is Still Hurtling Towards the Fiscal Cliff

According to a recent survey by Macro Risk Advisors, the biggest threat facing U.S. investors isn't a meltdown in the eurozone, or a crash in China, or even a misstep by the Federal Reserve. In fact, their biggest fear is the uncertainty engendered by election season, and the "fiscal cliff" over which the United States is set to hurtle come January 2, 2013.

The cliff in question is a $607 billion combination of tax increases and spending cuts, and is the result of failure by Congress in 2011 to reach agreement on how to reduce the federal deficit. Without political intervention, it will come into force just as our New Year's Eve hangovers start to wear off. As Reason Foundation Managing Editor Tom Clougherty argues, the time has come to bring meaningful reforms to America's unaffordable and outdated entitlement programs.