Last week’s fiscal cliff deal left much unresolved – no agreement on raising the debt ceiling, the fiscal year 2013 budget is still incomplete, and there was no more than a delay in dealing with one of the major components of the cliff: sequestration.

Last week I wrote a post called Fiscal Cliff Definition, with a simple explanation of the much-hyped, so-called fiscal cliff. (I also suggested that we call it a "fiscal obstacle course" instead of a cliff, because that's a more appropriate metaphor.) The next important question is: What's going to happen?

With all the talk in the news media about the "fiscal cliff," it seems that one important thing has been left out: A simple definition of what is the fiscal cliff. So here it is.

A few weeks ago, with the announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan as Gov. Romney’s running mate, we wrote about how the two presidential candidates represent starkly different visions for this country in the years to come. One issue we didn’t cover in detail is the candidates’ projected budget deficits.

The House, the Senate, and President Obama agreed on something. Surprised? Well, technically they agreed to agree on something in the future. Several weeks ago, leaders of the House and Senate announced they’re planning to pass a continuing resolution in September in order to fund the federal government past Sept. 30, which is the last day of fiscal year 2012. If lawmakers don’t pass any spending legislation by that date, the government will shut down on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2013 begins.

Tom from St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote in to ask why our federal budget numbers don't combine funding for veterans with military spending, since they're both part of a larger national security category.

During Pie Week, we’ve explored three types of federal spending pies: total, mandatory, and discretionary. Judging from your comments on our Facebook page, you have strong opinions about the numbers on these charts. To wrap up the week, we think it’s important to see the spending charts next to one ...

Pie Week continues today with the part of the federal budget that often receives the most scrutiny: discretionary spending.

This week we're talking about pie. Federal budget pies, that is. The first pie we're looking at is total federal spending. Join us every day this week for a different slice of pie.

In some charts, you see that military is more than half the budget. But in others, you see that it's much less than that. Let's settle this once and for all.