Political compromise is essential reaching a quality, long-term solution to avoiding flying over the fiscal cliff at year's end, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Sunday. 
 
 “The best way out of this will be a balanced solution," said on CNN's "State of the Union.". 
 
 Such a solution “takes into account both increasing revenue … and cutting spending, as well," she added. 
 
 The fiscal cliff, which involves automatic tax increases and spending cuts if the federal government can't otherwise strike a deal, is the biggest threat to the U.S. economy, Lagarde said. 
 
 Asked what would happen if the United States goes over the fiscal cliff, Lagarde predicted that there would be widespread "lack of confidence" in the U.S. economy and "markets would react very quickly,” with stock markets “really taking a hit.” 
 
 While any deal, even a temporary one, is better than nothing before the year's end, Lagarde said that the U.S. government should strive to reach a "comprehensive fix" rather "than a quick fix.” 
 
 Read more about: Cnn, State Of The Union, Christine Lagarde, Fiscal Cliff ||||| Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) predicted Sunday that tax rates for the wealthy will likely go up next year. 
 
 Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Simpson, a co-chairman of the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission, said he and Erskine Bowles, a former Clinton White House chief of staff and the panel’s other co-chairman, believe taxes will go up for the rich. 
 
 “I think Erskine and I both agree that if anybody out there who is, quote, rich doesn’t think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me, I’ll cover it,” Simpson said. 
 
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 Bowles, however, noted that raising taxes on the wealthy wouldn’t be enough to bring down the nation’s deficit. 
 
 “Even if you raise the top rates back to the Clinton rates, that only creates $400 billion over 10 years. That’s $40 billion a year. We got a trillion-dollar-a-year deficit. That alone won’t solve the problem,” Bowles said. 
 
 Bowles said spending cuts must be made in order to bring down the debt. 
 
 “We have to slow the rate of growth of healthcare to the rate of growth of the economy,” Bowles said. 
 
 The deficit hawks are both worried over the impact from going over the “fiscal cliff” — a set of massive tax increases and budget cuts that will go into effect early next year unless Congress acts. Bowles said going over the cliff entails possible layoffs, estimating 2 million people could lose their jobs and the unemployment rate could climb to 9 percent. 
 
 “I think this would be a disaster to go over the cliff,” Bowles said. 
 
 Simpson lambasted lawmakers in both parties who argue going over the fiscal cliff would be politically advantageous for their respective parties. 
 
 “There’s something terribly bizarre and juvenile about that. To think your party comes ahead of your country, I don’t go for that at all,” Simpson said. 
 
 Bowles remains optimistic about a deal getting done, however. 
 
 “I’m a little more encouraged than if you would have asked me about it a week ago,” Bowles said. “They have started to tango now and any time you got two guys in there tangoing, you got a chance to get it done.” ||||| Republicans may need to concede the current tax fight to President Barack Obama, who holds the "upper hand" in that battle, Sen. Bob Corker said Sunday. 
 
 "There is a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue," the Tennessee Republican told "Fox News Sunday." "I think [that notion] has merit....I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take." 
 
 Corker said ceding to Obama and preserving current tax rates for 98 percent of Americans while allowing rates to rise to Clinton-era levels on the top 2 percent would allow Republicans to pick up the fight over spending and entitlements next year. 
 
 Corker also said the GOP will have move leverage in the spending and entitlements debate next year because it can use the threat of not raising the debt ceiling to craft a favorable deal with Obama. 
 
 "There's a growing body of folks who are willing to look at the rate on the top 2 percent," Corker. "The shift in focus in entitlements is where we need to go.....Republicans know they have the debt ceiling that's coming up around the corner and the leverage is going to shift as soon as we get beyond this issue—the leverage is going to shift to our side." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, Taxes, Fox News Sunday, Debt, Bob Corker, Spending, Fiscal Cliff ||||| If Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decides to run for president in 2016, it'd be "virtually impossible" for any Democrat to beat her for the Democratic nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday. 
 
 Also appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Bloomberg News Chief White House Correspondent Julianna Goldman agreed, predicting that if Clinton runs, she "clears the field" -- although expect other Democrats such as Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to "test the waters." 
 
 "No doubt about it," MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell said of a 2016 Clinton presidential bid. "The reason it's easy for you to get Democratic insiders to say she's absolutely running is because she's absolutely running." 
 
 (PHOTOS: Who's talking about Hillary, 2016?) 
 
 But Gingrich, who himself sought the Republican presidential nomination this year, added one note of caution: "I thought she was frankly going to be the nominee in '08." 
 
 Gingrich, with a smile, also suggested that if Clinton won the Democratic presidential nomination, she could conceivably face off against former Republican Florida Gov. Jeb Bush - a contest that would serve as a family rematch of the 1992 presidential election, in which Bill Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush. 
 
 Read more about: Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Meet The Press, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jeb Bush, Martin O'Malley, Brian Schweitzer ||||| Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Sunday he's considering running against Republcian Gov. Chris Christie in New Jersey next year and is also mulling a run for the Senate. 
 
 "I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration. I'm going to be focused on that for the next week to 10 days or so," Booker said on CBS's "Face The Nation." 
 
 Booker said he's committed to making a decision about a gubernatorial race soon so that other Democrats can step up if he decides to pass. "It’s got to be within the next two weeks….because there's a lot of very good candidates for governor on the Democratic side," Booker said. 
 
 Booker said he's also giving serious thought to a Senate bid. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) will be 90 in 2014, raising the possibility that his seat might come open. 
 
 "Yeah, I’m actually looking at that a lot as well," Booker said. 
 
 Read more about: New Jersey, Chris Christie, Cory Booker, Frank Lautenberg ||||| One of the namesakes of America's best-known debt-cutting plan, former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, said Sunday he sees signs of progress towards a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff the nation faces at the end of the year. 
 
 "I'm a little more encouraged than I would have been if you'd asked me about it a week ago," Bowles said on CBS's "Face The Nation. "I think we've made some progress [last] week." 
 
 "They've started to tango there and any time you've got two guys in there tangoing you've got a chance to get it done," Bowles said, referring to President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). 
 
 Bowles, who co-chaired a deficit reduction commission with former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), credited both the president and the speaker with helping to lay groundwork for a possible deal to stop the tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in at the end of the month. 
 
 Bowles said Obama has insisted on higher tax rates for the wealthy, but has also indicated a willingness to consider entitlement costs. 
 
 Bowles also praised Boehner for not including potential deal breakers in his recent proposal. 
 
 "I think this is a speaker who really gets it," Bowles said. "If you look at the offer he made last week, that offer doesn't mention a thing about block granting Medicaid. It doesn't have a word about premium supports. It doesn't have anything in there about those deep cuts in income support programs. So, I think that advances the ball." 
 
 Read more about: Barack Obama, John Boehner, Taxes, Deficit, Debt, Bowles Simpson Deficit Commission, Erskine Bowles, Fiscal Cliff
– It's just another Sunday teetering on the fiscal cliff, with the Hill reporting that both Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles are indicating that tax hikes for the rich were a foregone conclusion. “I think Erskine and I both agree that if anybody out there who is, quote, rich doesn’t think their taxes go up, the drinks are on me, I’ll cover it,” says Simpson. And even "that alone won't solve the problem," adds Bowles, who nevertheless indicated he was "more encouraged" than a week ago, because the GOP and Dems "have started to tango now." He praised John Boehner as "a speaker who really gets it" for not wrapping his proposal in any deal-breakers, notes Politico. Elsewhere on the Sunday dial: Bob Corker on Obama's tax offer: "There is a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing that we don’t have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue. I think [that notion] has merit....I actually am beginning to believe that is the best route for us to take." Christine Lagarde on the fiscal cliff: “The best way out of this will be a balanced solution ... (which) takes into account both increasing revenue … and cutting spending, as well." Failure would mean "markets would react very quickly" with stocks "really taking a hit." Cory Booker on his career prospects: "I am absolutely considering running for governor, as well as giving other options some consideration. I'm going to be focused on that for the next week to 10 days or so." As for a run for Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat: "Yeah, I’m actually looking at that a lot as well." Newt Gingrich on Hillary Clinton's 2016 prospects: It's "virtually impossible" for any Democrat to deny her the nomination, and a Clinton candidacy "clears the field."