Today's crisis is less about fiscal profligacy than about investors' fears for the euro's sustainability and their flight from peripheral assets.

ECONOMIST: The EU summit

"This kick-the-can approach, necessitated by a president who refuses to stop campaigning and start seriously addressing our nation's fiscal problems, is not an adequate solution to America's coming fiscal crisis, which is a result of overspending, not under-taxing, " the group said in a written statement.

WSJ: U.S. Budget Compromise Deal Reached

This is the legacy that many people now blame for a good part of California's fiscal crisis.

ECONOMIST: California's prison-guards' union