The fiscal cliff and its threat to US oil

With the election over, Obama faces what may be the toughest economic decision he will ever make. And the effects of that choice will be played out in the oil markets

For President Barack Obama, re-election was the easy part. Now comes the fiscal cliff. The fiscal cliff is a legacy of his first term when, after a battle with Congress to raise the US' debt ceiling, the White House agreed to a raft of spending cuts that will come into force just as Bush-era tax breaks expire. At midnight on 31 December, those breaks will end and the federal government will begin chopping the first $110 billion of $1.2 trillion in legislated spending cuts over the next 10 years. The debate with Congress last year cost the US its treasured triple-A credit rating. The outcome of this battle could be just as severe, with implications far beyond the US economy. According to the