Bay State business leaders remain confident a "fiscal cliff" compromise will be achieved, yet many don't expect real progress by congressional leaders until days before the year-end deadline.
"You're playing Russian roulette right now and I think the stock market will reflect the poor behavior in the last week-and-a-half, two weeks in December," said John Fish, CEO of Boston's Suffolk Construction. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but unfortunately I think it will."
Talks between Democrats and Republicans over how to avoid the fiscal cliff's automatic tax increases and spending cuts ended in partisan bickering yesterday. House Speaker John Boehner declaring "no substantive progress has been made" with the White House, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he's "still waiting for a serious offer from Republicans."
Thomas Glynn, head of the Massachusetts Port Authority, said he had more confidence a compromise could be reached "10 days ago."
"It's just like labor negotiations — until it's 48 hours out, it doesn't get serious," Glynn said, adding that the agency could lose funding from the Federal Aviation Administration for future construction projects if the nation goes over the cliff.
Andrew Dreyfus, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, expressed similar concerns regarding federal funding for both health care and life sciences.
"If those were put at risk, it could have a substantial impact on jobs and on the ability of the local economy to grow," Dreyfus said.
Mike Sheehan, CEO of Hub advertising agency Hill Holliday, said a compromise would be reached by year's end, but it would not be permanent.
"We represent a ton of clients in the consumer space and it'll affect everybody," he said. "There isn't a business that we work with that ... wouldn't be affected by this no matter what, whether it's solved or not solved."
Richard Holbrook, CEO of Eastern Bank, said uncertainty over the issue is "the biggest cliff we face," adding the nation could stumble back into a recession if a budget deal is not reached in Washington.
"Many folks will suffer in a slower-growth economy, banks among them," he said. "If we do go over the cliff, my personal belief is that it will be short-lived before the next Congress starts to address some of the issues."
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