- European leaders strike a deal to write down a third of Greece’s debt, swell the bailout fund and recapitalize the continent’s banks.
- The U.S. economy grew at an improved 2.5% annual rate from July to September. (As Jim Pethokoukis points out, at this point in Reagan’s first term, it was humming along at 8.1%)
- The CBO on income inequality. Jon Chait reviews Paul Ryan’s speech on the matter.
- Democratic messaging (or just Republican policy preference) is breaking through: 69% think Republicans in Congress favor the rich, 9% say the middle class, 2% say the poor.
- Democrats and Republicans on the deficit supercommittee trade actual plans.
- Cain runs his campaign like a corporation, doesn’t like staffers to speak unless spoken to, and generally presides over disarray.
- He’s an incredibly unusual candidate.
- Perry may skip debates.
- Occupy Oakland turns ugly.
- And Paul Krugman celebrates halloween.
Morning Must Reads: Unusual
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The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy
More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.
