The Great Debate UK
from Reuters Investigates:
How to make friends and influence people
White House correspondent Caren Bohan's special report out today examines President Barack Obama's testy relationship with the business community.
After Tuesday's election, Obama was faced with the prospect of legislative gridlock. Republicans pushed Democrats decisively from power in the House of Representatives and strengthened their ranks in the Senate as voters vented frustration over the economy.
Now that the election is over, one idea that could gain traction is a payroll tax holiday to give consumers and businesses some extra cash. Obama had considered proposing it before the election but rejected it because of its cost. There is some openness at the White House to it now but much would depend on whether it seemed likely to gain bipartisan support.
Obama aides say they were frustrated that the economic package the administration offered in September -- including tax breaks for companies and beefed-up infrastructure spending -- received little to no backing from Republicans in Congress. They hope to enlist business support in reviving these ideas.
How U.S. consultants changed the face of world politics
The following is guest post by Andrew Hammond, a director at ReputationInc, an international strategic communications firm, was formerly a special adviser to the Home Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair and a geopolitics consultant at Oxford Analytica. The opinions expressed are his own.
With less than a month until the crucial November 2 U.S. mid-term elections, the eyes of much of the world are focused upon how many extra seats the Republicans will win in Congress. Should the party win back control of the House of Representatives and/or Senate, President Barack Obama’s agenda will be further stymied. This could have profound implications not just for U.S. domestic policy, but also foreign policy issues, especially those which require congressional ratification, such as arms reductions treaties, or indeed any climate change deal to replace Kyoto.
from Tales from the Trail:
If healthcare wasn’t enough, Obama just picked another fight
One thing is clear. President Barack Obama is not afraid of a fight.
He battled all last year with Republicans and some of his own Democrats trying to get healthcare reform through the political headwinds. 
Now he's going to take on Republicans with trying to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on gays serving in the military.
from Commentaries:
Time for the Fed to stand up to its critics
John M. Berry is a guest columnist who has covered the economy for four decades for the Washington Post and other publications.
By John M. Berry
Financial crises and the policies to deal with them top the agenda at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole conference. But what is actually going to be on everyone's mind at the august gathering is the uncertain future of the Federal Reserve itself.
from Commentaries:
Team Obama punts again on derivatives
The Obama administration formally sent its plan for regulating derivatives to Capitol Hill today. And to no one's surprise, the key proposal in the 115-bill is a plan to regulate "standard'' derivatives on regulated exchanges of clearinghouses.
As I've pointed out a number of times, Team Obama has yet to come-up with a workable definition for a standard derivative. The administration seems content to kick the issue down the road.
from Commentaries:
The revenge of Madoff’s victims
By Lynnley Browning
(Lynnley Browning is a guest columnist. The views expressed are her own. She is a frequent contributor to the business pages of The New York Times and is a former Moscow-based correspondent for Reuters, where she covered energy and commodities.)
Some have argued that the victims of Bernie Madoff's enormous fraud should simply take their lumps for having trusted their money to the greatest con artist in history.
from The Great Debate:
Accounting change won’t save banking
—James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. –
By all means reform accounting, but for pity's sake take your time and keep your expectations low.
Suspending mark-to-market accounting immediately as a means of levitating banks out of peril simply won't work. While transparency may or may not be the foundation of banking, trust undoubtedly is.
