Debt crisis: In our competitive decadence, we face eurogeddon and dollargeddon

By Timothy Garton Ash – It looks as if America will step back from the brink, though without fixing the underlying problem. And Europe? I wouldn’t count on it.

The US debt burden rose thanks to tax cuts introduced under President George W Bush and expenditure on foreign wars, as well as growing health and welfare spending – and then the bailouts and Obama’s large-scale Keynesian...