Influence Alley

One of the world’s richest, most powerful men has a message for both parties: It’s time to “yield.”

Republicans and Democrats each need to compromise on some of their core convictions to strike a deal and avert the looming fiscal cliff, according to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO and chairman of financial giant Goldman Sachs. He delivered that message to reporters after he and other members of Fix the Debt, a business-backed anti-debt group, met with Republican leaders for little under an hour in GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy’s office at the Capitol.

Failing to reach a compromise would be “very, very bad” for the country, he added, but finding agreement would be a boon to the country.

“That’s a very big gap between bad consequences and good consequences,” he said. “And I’d say both sides need to compromise – it has to be a balanced approach.”