The fiscal cliff is a man-made disaster waiting to happen.

It starts to take effect in January and includes $7 trillion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over a decade.

While that might seem like a deficit hawk's dream come true, it's anything but.

"It's too big, too quick, and focuses on the wrong parts of the budget," said Maya MacGuineas, who is spearheading the nonpartisan Campaign to Fix the Debt.

Among the policies at issue: reductions in both defense and non-defense spending; the expiration of the Bush tax cuts; the end of a payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits; and the onset of reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors.

In addition, the debt ceiling -- the legal limit on federal borrowing -- will need to be raised by early next year from its current level of $16.394 trillion.

If left in place, the fiscal cliff would lead to the biggest single-year drop in the annual deficit as a percent of the economy since 1969.

But because it would be so abrupt and arbitrary, it also could throw the United States back into a recession next year, when more than $500 billion will be taken out of the economy.

To avoid that, President Barack Obama and Congress will need to act quickly to avert at least some parts of the fiscal cliff.

So what, exactly, makes up the fiscal cliff?