Bob Reynolds Putnam Investments CEO

As Congress works through the most consequential "lame duck" session of our lifetimes, the stakes in reaching a bipartisan compromise to keep us from going over the "fiscal cliff" couldn't be higher. In case you haven't heard, unless Congress acts by year-end, a $600 billion avalanche of spending cuts and tax increases due to begin in early 2013 could turn our achingly slow recovery into a recession—fast.