So a deal was reached this week that, experts say, temporarily spares the American economy from falling off the proverbial “fiscal cliff.”

With the Jan. 1 deadline looming, Democrats and Republicans in both the Senate and House compromised on President Barack Obama’s campaign promise to raise taxes on the richest 2 percent of Americans. Instead, the income-tax rate on the top 0.7 percent of Americans, individuals making more than $400,000 annually or familes making more than $450,000, will increase.

The deal made permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the rest of us. (Most Americans, though, still will pay more in federal taxes this year because a 2011 reduction in payroll taxes related to Social Security has expired.)