US debt deal: but at what cost?

Today, the press and blogosphere have called the 74-page agreement between Democrats and Republicans to raise the US debt ceiling by 2.4 trillion dollars "a disastrous compromise", "the result of extortion" and even "a sugar-coated Satan sandwich" (by Democrat Emmanuel Cleaver). Laura Baines asks her guests if Obama has given away too much, and if such a divided Washington will able to deal with the major economic challenges ahead.

DEBATE

Philip CROWTHER, France 24 Correspondent (from Washington);

Bruce STOKES, Senior Transatlantic Fellow for Economics, German Marshall Fund of the United States (from Washington)

Chris EDWARDS, Director of Tax and Budget studies, CATO Institute (from Washington);

John R. MacARTHUR, Publisher, Harper’s Magazine (from New York)

Ali FATEMI, Professor of finance, American Graduate School of Economics in Paris.

Presenter

François Picard

03/02/2011 - The Debate

Clashes in Cairo

Does it have to end badly? Cairo this Wednesday was rocked by charging camels and hours of pitched battles between pro and anti-Mubarak supporters. François Picard's panel argues over the next move of the president, the army and the opposition. (Photo credit: Mehdi Chebil).

01/02/2011 - THE DEBATE

Egypt on edge (part 2)

Hosni Mubarak remains in charge but if Tuesday's million man march lives up to its billing, the France 24 Debate wonders if he can still hang on. If not, who to fill his shoes? Answers range from the secular opposition to Islamists and the army.

01/02/2011 - THE DEBATE

Egypt on edge

31/01/2011 - THE DEBATE

Egypt on edge: calls for change, but a transition to what? (part 2)

Despite Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak reshuffling his cabinet and appointing his first ever vice-president, there's no let-up in the protests calling for him to go. François Picard's panel debates what the role of the army could be in a transition process, and who of the civilian and Islamist opposition is best placed to take the reins of the Arab world's most populous nation.