Originally broadcast December 7, 2012.

If no measures are taken, in less than a month the United States will "fall off the fiscal cliff." Among other things, this means that the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax cut will expire, extended unemployment benefits will end, and Medicare would lose nearly $11 billion from its budget. Many experts believe that going over the cliff would lead to another recession. What does this mean for people of color? The middle class? The poor?

Our panel:

• Latoyia Edwards, anchor, New England Cable News

• Peniel Joseph, professor of history, Tufts University

• Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio

• Kim McLarin, assistant professor of writing, literature and publishing, Emerson College

• Jeffrey Taliaferro, associate professor of political science, Tufts University