Daily Archives: October 27, 2011

Gideon Rachman The rise and fall of Rick Perry

October 27, 2011 5:27 pm by Gideon Rachman
Rick Perry

Rick Perry. Getty Images.

Just a few months ago, Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, was the coming man in American presidential politics. When he announced his candidacy for the presidency, he shot into the lead amongst Republican voters – briefly commanding more than 40 per cent support. He looked presidential material – a long record of electoral and economic success in Texas, a strong appeal to the Tea Party and to Christian voters. All that, and good hair too.

But, now, in some polls, Perry is back down at 6 per cent. Others have him at 10. All the polls show the governor trailing not just Mitt Romney, but also Herman Cain, whose sole qualification is that he used to run a pizza firm. Read more

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Posted in US politics |

Tom Burgis Eurozone crisis: live blog

October 27, 2011 11:20 am by Tom Burgis

Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the eurozone crisis. In the early hours of the morning, eurozone leaders emerged from their summit in Brussels with a deal designed to stem the sovereign debt crisis. The markets seem pleased but big questions on the details remain. We’ll bring you reactions, news and commentary as we get it throughout the day.

All times are London time. By Tom Burgis on the news desk in London, with contributions from FT correspondents around the world.

18.34: It’s time to wrap up the live blog for today. But keep reading FT.com through the evening for:

18.13: Der Spiegel has a nice tale about whether or not Angela Merkel did in fact apologise to Silvio Berlusconi for appearing to smirk when asked publicly if she still had faith in his leadership.

18.07: Chatham House has just published a paper arguing that international debt bailout systems are ill-equipped to handle any further instability.

“As the problems in the eurozone deepen and threaten to spread globally, action is required to strengthen financial safety nets beyond what was agreed by EU Heads of State on 27 October 2011.”

Read the full report by Stephen Pickford, former managing director at the UK Treasury and former executive director at the IMF.

18.00: An evening update of the day’s developments:

  • At the end of trading in Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 finished 3.69 per cent higher for the day at 1,020. US stocks rose too, with GDP numbers that matched expectations adding to a positive reception for the EU’s moves
  • Despite the ebullience in equities markets, concerns remained over soveriegn debt in the eurozone. Italian government bond yields first sank to 5.7 per cent, before rebounding to 5.9 per cent, near their euro-era highs
  • Questions remain over the details of the eurozone deal, notably over the terms of the new bonds that will replace existing Greek debt as part of the agreed 50 per cent “haircut” (see 13.17), how banks will go about raising new capital and where the cash to fund the various eurozone plans will come from
  • European officials are keen to involve China and other Bric nations in a fund to buy eurozone debt, though here too there are no firm plans yet

 Read more

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Posted in Financial crisis, Foreign affairs, Global economy |