Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has talkedlately about a couple of size-14 shoes waiting to drop at the endof this year. He sounded the theme again last week in a speech atthe Portland City Club in Portland, OR. “At the end of the year, weface a so-called fiscal ‘cliff’—the simultaneous expiration of taxcuts and large across-the-board cuts in spending,” Geithner said inprepared remarks. “That cliff presents a risk, but it also providesan opportunity for bipartisan agreement on reforms to restorefiscal sustainability.”

Now, whether the fractious boys and girls of Congress can bringthemselves to meet this opportunity is another matter entirely.Given the combination of brinkmanship and paralysis that led to thedowngrade of the country’s credit rating last summer, and thehamster-in-a-treadmill stance that Congressional lawmakers havetaken since then—lots of running in place, but no forwardmotion—I’m not optimistic.

In fact, I’m generally in agreement with a comment posted by aReuters reader after Geithner made a similar speech ahead of ameeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 earlier thismonth. “While it would be heartening for the American people tobelieve that their elected officials are toiling every day totackle the tough issues, we cannot,” the reader wrote. “The proofis in the action, of which there has not been any.” He added that“everyone is too busy campaigning,” and given that the presidency,a fair number of US Senate seats and all 435 House slots are up forgrabs, that’s quite a sizeable crowd with only half an eye on thebusiness at hand.