The "Fiscal Cliff" is a wholly owned subsidiary of a Republican polity whose only motivation is antipathy for the President and disdain for the poor.
The US economy is no more like your household budget than the Idaho militia is like the US Marine Corps.There will always be a national debt and there should be. Budget deficits have been decreasing and will decrease more as the economy continues to improve. Had it not been for the obstructionist practices of poor-loser Republicans, we'd have a stronger economy and even lower deficits. As it is, deficits have fallen from over 10% when Bush left office in 2008, to 7% in 2012.
What Republicans refuse to acknowledge is that George W. Bush left an economic disaster in 2008, unemployment was rising, revenues were falling (both due to his crazy-ass tax cuts and to loss of jobs), and spending on safety net programs were necessarily rising (that's what they do when people lose their jobs). Economists will tell you that recovering from a deep recession like the one Republicans left, can take ten years (Japan has suffered for decades).But, if you're a Republican, look on the bright side. If Republicans can succeed in denying the vote to women and [even more] minorities, and they can come up with a candidate that isn't a dick (or doesn't keep stepping on his dick), they may win the Presidency in 2016. Then they can claim credit for reducing deficits in 2018 in their attempt to win back the House.
