Good afternoon, all! I’m back from my summer at The Wall Street Journal Europe where I interned as a Bartley Fellow. I’m now in my senior year at Cornell & I will try to post here as much as I can as I search for a full-time job and wrap up school.
I had the pleasure of watching the political circus in Washington from afar this summer. Unfortunately, that also meant I had a front row view of the European political saga, which wasn’t much different than our own on some days. Take, for instance, this post I wrote last month:
As President Obama faces off against Republican legislators in Washington, France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing a potential sovereign debt crisis of his own. Yesterday it was reported that Mr. Sarkozy penned a letter to the members of the French parliament, something that had never been done under the current French constitution, which dates to the 1950s. In it, he explained the Greek bailout, claiming that he wants to act for the greater good, while pressing MPs to clean up public spending at home. He also alluded to a possible “golden rule”: a constitutional amendment that would make budget balancing mandatory.The letter comes in the wake of some unpleasant news for the French President’s April 2012 re-election bid. France boasts the highest deficit, debt and primary deficit among the six AAA-rated countries in the euro zone. France’s contribution to the Greek rescue package could push the country’s debt ratio even higher. The proposed amendment is unlikely to get the 3/5 majority it needs in the French Parliament to pass. Of course, this seems more like an effort in showmanship to make the French Socialist Party look bad by forcing them to vote against austerity.
Things to be thankful for:
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