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REPUBLICAN leaders sent Wall Street tumbling yesterday after admitting "God only knows" how the US would reach a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff".
Markets dropped after Republican congressional leaders failed to persuade members to vote for even a modest tax rise on millionaires. The Dow Jones was down 1.3pc to 1,135.80.
With little more than a week until taxes are due to automatically go up for every American family, the Republican leadership's humiliating defeat threw negotiations into fresh chaos.
Investors are questioning if John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the House, still had the political authority to deliver his side of any deal that might be reached.
Widespread opposition from the right of his party forced Mr Boehner to abandon a vote on his "Plan B", proposals that would limit tax rises to only those making more than $1m (€760,000).
Mr Boehner painted a bleak picture of the state of talks, saying both sides had reached their "bottom lines" on tax rates.
Asked how they would break the impasse, Mr Boehner said: "How we get there, God only knows."
Mr Obama is demanding that taxes rise for everyone making more than $400,000 (€303,000) while Mr Boehner said he was only prepared to accept a rise on those making more than $1m. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
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Irish Independent
