"The fiscal cliff is a lot of deficit reduction over a short period of time but what we really want is a lot of deficit reduction over a long period of time. If you do it too quickly the economy is harmed tremendously.

"We would fall into a recession during the first half of 2013 and we don't want that because the recovery is happening very slowly, so what we would prefer instead is a longer term deficit reduction because that would help the economy both in the short term and help boost economic growth over the long term," said Joshua Gordon of the non-partisan Concord Coalition.