Word: germanics
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...default options pack such power. Most of us will save for retirement, run our computers in energy-efficient mode and be organ donors if we have to take action to say no - but not if we have to take action to say yes. Almost nobody signed up for a German utility's clean-energy plan until it became the default, and then 94% stuck with it. We're also much likelier to go to the doctor for preventive care like flu shots if the appointment is made for us. In a speech last year, Orszag even suggested charging...
...President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown—fresh off his humiliating trip to Latin America—tussled with Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the priorities of immediate stimulus versus regulation, Paramount Leader Hu Jintao quietly positioned China as the champion of the entire, unrepresented developing world. Meanwhile, President Lula da Silva of Brazil—the planet’s most popular politician, with an 80% approval rating—explicitly blamed the irrationality of white, blue-eyed beasts of prey for the financial crisis...
...believe some sources, the sherpas - the diplomats tasked with preparations for the meeting - have already done all the heavy lifting and the leaders have come together only to dot i's and cross t's. But after yesterday's dramatic double act by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who summoned press to a swanky hotel in London's Knightsbridge to identify their own "non-negotiable red lines" to quote the French politician's martial phrase, nobody can confidently rule out last-minute spats. Indeed, although the concluding press conference has been scheduled for 3.30pm British...
...German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who with Sarkozy had insisted on banishing any Anglo-Saxon laxity from financial regulation, also expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the summit, which produced not only a six-point communiqué but also two detailed annexes on how a tighter regulatory regime would work. But the key to success, Merkel added at her closing press conference, would be how those measures are implemented. "That's why I'm glad we've agreed to another G-20 meeting, to check our progress," she said. A date and venue for the next meeting have not yet been...
...That's typical of the German leader's restrained approach and a salutary reminder, amid the backslapping, that the political success of the summit - the fact that leaders can go home and tell their citizens they did good - shouldn't be confused with its real, practical impact...