15/10 The letters that make Obama long for his community-organizing days


It had become one of President Obama’s signature routines in the White House, a habit he mentioned in dozens of meetings and hundreds of speeches: Every night just before bed, he read 10 letters pulled from the 20,000 that Americans sent to him each day. The notes reminded him of why he wanted to be president, he liked to say. He called them his most intimate link to the people he governed.

14/10 G20 : Paris cherche à éviter les motifs de crispation



Mots clés : ,

Par Cyrille LachèvreMis à jour  | publié  Réactions (7)
Nicolas Sarkozy et Wolfgang Schäuble, ministre allemand des Finances, hier à l'issue d'un déjeuner de travail à l'Élysée.
Nicolas Sarkozy et Wolfgang Schäuble, ministre allemand des Finances, hier à l'issue d'un déjeuner de travail à l'Élysée. Crédits photo : Thibault Camus/AP
 S'abonner au Figaro.fr

La France veut rassurer le reste du monde sur la crise de l'euro et propose que chaque pays prenne des mesures individuelles pour soutenir l'économie. 


15/10 Obama plans to turn anti-Wall Street anger on Mitt Romney, Republicans



President Obama and his team have decided to turn public anger at Wall Street into a central tenet of their reelection strategy.
The move comes as the Occupy Wall Street protests gain momentum across the country and as polls show deep public distrust of the nation’s major financial institutions.

14/10 G20 ministers meeting to discuss eurozone debt crisis


G20 ministers meeting to discuss eurozone debt crisis

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin (left), US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and Chancellor George Osborne at a previous meeting earlier this monthThe G20 finance ministers will have much to discuss
Finance ministers from the G20 group of nations are meeting in Paris later to continue efforts to find a solution to the debt crisis in the eurozone.
While Greece remains the central focus, fears remain that the crisis could spread to other highly indebted eurozone countries such as Spain and Italy, and exposed European banks.
Greece needs its next bailout loan next month to avoid defaulting on its debt.
Spain was hit by a further credit rating cut on Thursday.
Standard & Poor's reduced Spain's long term rating by one notch, citing weak growth and high levels of private-sector debt.
It came a week after fellow credit rating agency Fitch also cut Spain's rating.
On Thursday, Fitch also downgraded the creditworthiness of UK banks Lloyds and RBS, and also Switzerland's UBS.

14/10 G-20 finance leaders gather in Paris in crisis mode as Europe’s economy teeters



PARIS — Top world finance ministers began meeting here Friday amid fresh reminders of the instability gripping Europe’s economy — another credit downgrade for Spain, fear over the strength of European banks and a political battle over austerity measures in Italy.

14/10 Why is Obama worsening our nation’s polarization?


Michael Gerson

Michael Gerson
Opinion Writer

It is an irony, but not a coincidence, that Barack Obama’s post-partisan era has seen the rise of the Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street.
Certainly, the momentum of polarization was strong before Obama arrived in Washington. Over the past few decades, Republican and Democratic congressional delegations have been churned into ideological homogeneity. Members seem to inhabit not different parties but different planets. The number of Americans who call themselves moderates has declined, while the number of people identifying themselves as conservatives or liberals has increased. Both sides find their beliefs reinforced by partisan media, for whom ideology has become a marketing tool. Every ideological slight — every Nazi comparisonevery intemperate comment by a pastor or union leader — is elevated into a national controversy. The Internet and cable news have become an endless buffet, feeding the outrage of a nation.

14/10 Why is Obama worsening our nation’s polarization?


Michael Gerson

Michael Gerson
Opinion Writer

By Published: October 14
It is an irony, but not a coincidence, that Barack Obama’s post-partisan era has seen the rise of the Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street.
Certainly, the momentum of polarization was strong before Obama arrived in Washington. Over the past few decades, Republican and Democratic congressional delegations have been churned into ideological homogeneity. Members seem to inhabit not different parties but different planets. The number of Americans who call themselves moderates has declined, while the number of people identifying themselves as conservatives or liberals has increased. Both sides find their beliefs reinforced by partisan media, for whom ideology has become a marketing tool. Every ideological slight — every Nazi comparisonevery intemperate comment by a pastor or union leader — is elevated into a national controversy. The Internet and cable news have become an endless buffet, feeding the outrage of a nation.

14/10 The scapegoat strategy


Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer
Opinion Writer

What do you do if you can’t run on your record — on 9 percent unemployment, stagnant growth and ruinous deficits as far as the eye can see? How to run when you are askedwhether Americans are better off than they were four years ago and you are compelled to answer no?

14/10 Les "égoïstes" de la zone euro : pourquoi ils renâclent à aider les "maillons faibles"

LEMONDE | 14.10.11 | 14h12   •  Mis à jour le 14.10.11 | 20h02

On les appelle les "égoïstes" de la zone euro. Ces pays, qui, comme la Slovaquie, rechignent à payer pour sauver la Grèce et les dérapages budgétaires des autres "maillons faibles" du sud de l'Europe.

Après avoir voté contre, le Parlement de Bratislava a finalement approuvé, jeudi 13 octobre, l'élargissement du Fonds européen de stabilité financière (FESF) nécessaire au sauvetage d'Athènes. Mais en hésitant, le pays a effrayé les dirigeants européens et mis au jour la rigidité de la gouvernance de la zone et l'exaspération de certains membres : la Slovaquie mais aussi les Pays-Bas, la Finlande et, dans une moindre mesure, l'Allemagne. Point sur ces "égoïsmes".