A responsible CEO not sure of where the money is going to come from on August 3rd would have instituted a hiring freeze by now and started issuing layoff notices. The US government is now advertising to hire 19,711 more people at USAJOBS.gov.
A CEO realizes that bankruptcy may terminate his job.
The White House doesn't care about the cliff. All they care about is that every new government employee is another potential Dem activist in 2012.