Meanwhile, the cliff that could break the economy's neck is the scheduled tax hikes.

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After the Senate passed a bill to extend some of the tax hikes that are scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the year, the action has moved to the House of Representatives, where Republicans are warning that they might reject the Senate proposal.

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If all those tax hikes take effect, as scheduled, the rich will be paying more anyway, reducing the potential haul from a new 30% minimum tax.

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Across-the-board tax hikes and sharp spending cuts scheduled for January 1 in the US are likely to mean a higher rate of income tax for the most wealthy.

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So the new expectation is that now the Fed will begin preparing markets for an early end to its QE2 quantitative easing, scheduled to end in June anyway, and for the beginning of interest rate hikes.

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