Washington finally reached a debt-limit deal to avert a calamitous default. But the deal, which “strained and nearly snapped American politics,” was the easy part. ++ The compromise avoided reforming America’s massive entitlement spending and failed to increase tax revenues. Effectively, the bargain “addresses a liquidity problem; it does not resolve the debt
... More
Dysfunctional politics have turned financial challenges into crises on both sides of the Atlantic. ++ In Europe, officials have “dithered and argued at national, intergovernmental and pan-eurozone levels” as Greece’s credit spreads widened. Washington, meanwhile, is “convulsed by the…spectacle of a voluntary sovereign debt crisis” resulting from the failure of
... More
