What the leading financial papers’ leading editorials have to say.
The Financial Times dealt with Japan’s power brokering political parties; basic bank accounts; and President Barack Obama’s laudable no nukes plan.
“[Japanese] Political parties are less about clearly defined ideologies – social welfare versus fiscal rectitude, a ‘good neighbour’ policy versus a strong US alliance – and more about personal relationships and the brokering of power and money,” The Financial Times wrote. That’s all well and good, but not conducive to action at a time when Japan needs it most. Japan’s Liberal Democrat Party, voted out of power in August after 50 years, is losing its cohesion and its rival party, the Democratic Party of Japan, hasn’t ever really had any: Both need to shape up, literally, for the good of the nation.
“Basic bank accounts are a good idea, but they are already widely available [in Britain]. The government and the banking industry deserve credit for this,” The Financial Times wrote in response to Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Budget promise last week to make it possible for everyone in the UK to have a bank account. “The government’s track record on financial inclusion is strong, but these empty proposals will add little to that record. Much the same could be said of the rest of Mr Darling’s Budget.”
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama.
President Barack Obama’s nuclear reduction treaty with Russia is a laudable step toward a safer world, The Financial Times opined today. The path from this treaty to Obama’s vision of a “global zero”, a world without nuclear weapons, will be difficult if not completely impossible, but the paper nonetheless applauded his efforts.
The Wall Street Journal tackled the Conservatives’ losing election strategy and took Obama to task for his weekend decision to appoint 15 officials without Senate approval.
“Mr. Cameron’s mistake has been to paint his party a paler shade of Brown at the very moment when the weaknesses of Labour is being exposed by the economic downturn,” The Journal wrote today. “That’s a pity for the Tories, and all the more so for a British electorate that is hungering for—dare we say it?—change.” Cameron’s party needs to stop acting like Labour Lite and offer the British public something more.
“Remember all of those liberal and media complaints during the George W. Bush years about the ‘Imperial Presidency’ and runaway executive power?” The Journal asked. “We haven’t heard much of that now that a Democrat occupies the White House, and President Obama’s weekend decision to install 15 officials as recess executive appointments without Senate approval is even being hailed on the left as proof that he’s capable of LBJ-style muscle-flexing.” The paper claimed that Obama’s installation of a union lawyer to the National Labor Relations Board reveals that the President’s talk about bipartisanship was “mostly for campaign show.”
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