The sequester was a legislative tool designed to scare the Congress into doing its job. It clearly seems to have failed to produce this result. If it goes into effect, the sequester means across the board cuts in every agency of federal government with no ability to control what is cut and what is not.

LONDON -- In March 2012, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne jetted off to the United States for a series of meetings a...

The next fiscal crisis is set for February or March. Paul Krugman is pleading for minting a $1 trillion platinum coin to avert gloom and doom. Ideas like these help put a smile on your face in difficult times, but how will the fiscal saga really evolve?

If the West fails to mend its ways it will be like a mammoth tanker that is no longer able to change course. Under such conditions only a much bigger and deeper crisis can force countries to act differently. Yet by then they will no longer have a safety net to cushion the blow and spread the pain.

While thousands of miles away I'm glued to the US debt ceiling debate. Not because it's particularly interesting but because the unfolding situation, still pretty much in its infancy, will have a direct and lasting impact on the place I was born, the place I grew up and all the places, institutions and communities I now work with to improve.

To prevent a default at the eleventh hour Obama may have relinquished the last arrow in his political quiver by agreeing to deep cuts in government spending which some economists believe might jeopardise this fragile recovery.

The American national debt is extravagant, so vast as to be almost unimaginable. Everyone agrees that something must give and at this point, Republicans and Democrats face two options: raising taxes or cutting public programs.

As the British media continues to churn out story after story on the hacking scandal, the troubles in the Eurozone continue to mount. Like a set of dominoes, one by one countries are falling into deeper and deeper financial trouble.

Observers of the American economic crisis might characterize Republicans' refusal to raise the nation's debt ceiling as mere brinkmanship orchestrated to undermine President Barack Obama's leadership.

Given the imminent deadline of August 2, it is unlikely that the "Grand Bargain" that is so important to America's long term economic stability will be found, at least immediately.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S....