Discussions on the averting the financial fiscal cliff in the US are not proceeding well.

And the finger-pointing continues.

U-S House Speaker John Boehner is leading the negotiations for the Republicans. He says the White House is so resistant to cutting spending that it is risking pushing the US towards an automatic series of deep spending cuts and tax increases.’

Analysts say the US may have to go over the cliff before it can actually take action. Scores of Republicans in the House of Representatives have vowed never to raise tax rates. If virtually every American’s taxes go up on January first, they could then agree to cutting them again for 98 per cent of Americans while leaving them in place for upper-income earners. That would satisfy Obama’s condition that the rich should pay more.