The "fiscal cliff" was a successful media creation of the Democrat "mainstream" newsrooms. "We must stop global warming NOW or the oceans will rise and we'll all be drowned!" "We must stop the Africanized killer bees NOW before they migrate north and kill us all!" "Radon..!" "Black mold..!" "Lead-based paint..!" "DDT..!" Etc.
Alarmist, apocalyptic stuff sells, and the political scum fall for it every time... because the massive, ignorant chattering class (ie., the people who elect scum like Ubama) fall for it every time. The fact is, whatever legislation comes out of this "crisis", if any, can be passed a month or two months from now and simply made "retroactive".
They've done it before.
They did it in 1993 in raising taxes retroactively. They effectively raised taxes on people who died before they were enacted