Default Threat Generates Fear Around Globe
LONDON — The bitter fiscal stalemate in Washington is producing nervous ripples from London to Bali, with increasing anxiety that the United States might actually default on a portion of its government debt, set off global financial troubles and undercut fragile economic recoveries in many countries.
Five years after the financial crisis in the United States helped spread a deep global recession, policy makers around the world again fear collateral damage, this time with their nations becoming victims not of Wall Street’s excesses but of a political system in Washington that to many foreign eyes no longer seems to be able to function efficiently.
There is plenty of evidence that the United States remains engaged globally on many levels, with the dual commando raids on targets in Africa this weekend the most recent. But the partial shutdown of the United States government has shown again that Washington’s problems extend beyond American borders. Effectively grounded by the political crisis at home, President Obama was absent from a summit meeting of Pacific Rim leaders in Indonesia on Monday, giving China greater opportunity to highlight its role in the region.
One of the attendees, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, provided a possibly sardonic statement of sympathy for Mr. Obama. “We see what is happening in U.S. domestic politics and this is not an easy situation,” Mr. Putin said, adding, “If I was in his situation, I would not come, either.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/us/politics/default-threat-makes-impasse-in-washington-a-global-fear.html?ref=global-home&_r=0&pagewanted=print
