Barack Obama won a second term in the White House when voters decided to stick with the Democratic president rather than gamble on Republican Mitt Romney.
Joining Tom Clark in the studio to discuss the result: Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, the Observer's foreign affairs editor Peter Beaumont and the Guardian's economics editor Larry Elliott.
There were also crucial elections for the US Senate and House of Representatives. The Observer's Paul Harris says that the balance of power on Capitol Hill has barely altered and that further legislative gridlock is inevitable.
Meanwhile, the US economy hurtles towards the self-imposed 'fiscal cliff'. If the two parties can't negotiate a more moderate deficit-reduction programme by January, automatic tax rises and spending cuts will kick in that could tip the US back into recession. Economist Russ Roberts, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the EconTalk podcast explains what the implications could be.
Leave your thoughts below.
