R&D: Europe Prepares for Debt Defaults, Obama’s Deficit Commission Releases Its Plan, and Argentina and Brazil Move Away from Populism

Here is your R&D for November 11th:

Fail safe from the Economist
In light of Ireland’s latest financial difficulties, the European Union is preparing itself for a potential default by one of its members.  How would the continent deal with a debt default?  The Economist seeks to explain that in this article.

Obama deficit commission drafts drastic cuts from the San Francisco Chronicle
President Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission released its plan to rebalance the federal budget.  The plan calls for cuts in the number of public sector employees, cutting benefits for Social Security, and eliminating $100 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses.  The commission believes that these steps will cut $4 trillion of the deficit within the next decade.

Transition processes in Argentina and Brazil seen from Washington from MercoPress
This MercoPress article recounts an opinion-editorial piece in the Washington Post, which noted that Brazil and Argentina are gradually moving away from populist economic policies to more pragmatic ones.

Nancy Pelosi faces new resistance from Democrats from Politico
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has expressed her interest in remaining the leader of House Democrats.  However, conservative and moderate elements of the Democrats who survived the 2010 midterms want her to step down, believing that Pelosi will keep them from regaining the chamber in 2012.

Estimated state budget deficit reaches $25.4 billion from the Los Angeles Times
California’s estimate state budget deficit is $25.4 billion, which is going to be tough for Jerry Brown, the governor-elect to handle.  What makes the task even tougher is the state of the nation’s economy, tax restrictions voted in last week, and an end to temporary taxes.

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