Foreign Look at Debt Crisis

Der Spiegel article on the debt crisis.

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

What is happening in Washington is nothing less than a culture war. On President Obama's side are supporters of a national concept, like one known in Europe, namely that the state should take care of a certain amount of social equalizing, and if necessary, intervene with regulations. For his opposition, even Obama's idea of expanding health insurance coverage equals the birth of communist totalitarianism.

Anyone who raises taxes or increases the debt ceiling, and therefore unleashes the Leviathan of 'big government,' is, according to their logic, threatening the highest ideal that the American revolutionaries fought for: freedom. Those who do it will be pursued by these self-named patriots with virtually pathological hatred, even when the infrastructure or social benefits would profit from their undertakings. Illogical? Patriotism is possibly the only thing that many uncertain American citizens have left. The crisis has not only cost them their jobs; it has also threatened their country's hegemony. And a solution for none of these problems seems apparent.

The business daily Handelsblatt writes:

Obama .... will have a much harder time than in prior elections because he'd convinced his supporters that he would end the divide in America. But he's failed to prove that he can really achieve that. 'No, he can't' should be the conclusion of disappointed voters.

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

The debt burden per person is, in the end, almost as high as in Greece.