Germany Readies Surrender Over Greece

Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel.

Germany may be getting ready to give up on Greece, as measures in the credit markets signal growing concern about the smaller nation’s ability to repay investors.

Yields on Greek two-year notes rose as much as 12 basis points today to a record 57.10 percent as of 8:25 a.m. London time. Credit-default swaps to insure the country’s five-year bonds and to speculate on government securities closed at a record 3,500 basis points on Sept. 9, according to CMA. The contracts are the highest in the world and more than three times the 1,134 basis points on Portugal’s debt.

Friedman Ignores Trotsky, Blasts Both Parties for U.S. Decline: Review

“A country that steps up to the challenges that it faces and masters them is the country that used to be us.”

Not very encouraging words, but the authors of “That Used To Be Us,” Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum, insist they’re optimists.

“We want to maintain American greatness,” they write. “We’re Fourth of July guys.” Hence the U-turn of their subtitle: “How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back.”

They’re convincing on the fell-behind part -- so convincing that I found their chipper, can-do tone grating. They’re like a doctor who says you have stage-four cancer and then adds brightly, “Think of it as an opportunity!”

Friedman and Mandelbaum identify the four major challenges the U.S. faces as globalization, the information revolution, astronomical deficits and the lethal combination of runaway energy consumption and climate change. The sensible measures they offer in response include more government spending on education, stricter energy standards, higher taxes (especially on fossil fuels) and cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Good luck with that.

Obama Says Decade Since Sept. 11 Terror Attacks Proves American Resilience

U.S. President Barack Obama marked the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by emphasizing Americans’ perseverance, saying for all the wars, disruptions and soul-searching of the past decade the country’s values and optimism remain.

Japan Stocks Fall to Lowest Since 2009 on Europe’s Worsening Debt Crisis

Japanese stocks fell for a third day, pushing the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average to the lowest close since April 2009, as Europe’s worsening debt crisis saps demand for riskier assets.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (8306), Japan’s biggest lender, fell 2.7 percent after the cost of insuring against default on European sovereign and financial debt surged to records. Toshiba Corp. (6502), Japan’s largest maker of nuclear power plants, sank 5.1 percent after a newspaper said the company is in talks to buy Shaw Group’s 20 percent stake in Westinghouse Electric, a reactor builder. Kansai Electric Power Co., a nuclear-power operator, jumped 3.5 percent after Japan’s new prime minister indicated his support for atomic energy.

Pools Mist Names of the Dead With Grace at 9/11 Memorial; James S. Russell

As a breeze whips the veils of water cascading into the 9/11 memorial’s pools, sparkling garlands dissolve into mist.

Water falls in the north pool of The National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York. Pools are located on the sites of the two towers of the World Trade Center destroyed in the terrorist attacks.

The dancing waters don’t strike the solemn note I expected from this shrine to 2,983 deaths on the site of the World Trade Center’s twin towers.

CEOs Cutting Forecasts Fall 38% With S&P Cheapest in September Since 1985

Lowe’s Cos., the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, was among the 138 companies that cut estimates last month.

The number of chief executive officers cutting profit forecasts fell 38 percent below average last month, even as the slowing economy pushed valuations to the lowest level at the start of September since 1985.

Toshiba Falls on Report Company May Buy Shaw Group’s Stake in Westinghouse

Toshiba, which already owns 77 percent of Westinghouse, is in talks to buy out Shaw Group’s 20 percent holding in the Pittsburgh-based company, the Journal reported, citing people it didn’t identify.

Toshiba Corp. (6502), Japan’s biggest maker of nuclear reactors, fell to the lowest in more than two years in Tokyo trading after the Wall Street Journal said the company may buy Shaw Group Inc. (SHAW)’s stake in Westinghouse Electric Co.