'We’re running against a billionaire' Democrats attack Bloomberg in US presidential debate

LAS VEGAS -- The top 6 candidates competing for the Democratic nomination to take on US President Donald Trump in November participated in the ninth presidential debate on Wednesday, with one quickly becoming the focus: Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg, the billionaire former New York mayor making his first debate appearance in the race, faced criticism from all his rivals on the stage in Las Vegas:

ELIZABETH WARREN

"We’re running against a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-face lesbians. And no I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg. Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop-and-frisk."

Warren, a senator from Massachusetts, also criticized Bloomberg for reports that his namesake media company mistreated women employees. She called on him to release women who sued his company from non-disclosure agreements.

"I hope you heard what his defense was: I've been nice to some women. That just doesn't cut it. The mayor has to stand on his record and what we need to know is what's lurking out there."

"This is not just a question of the mayor's character. This is also a question about electability. We are not going to beat Donald Trump with a man who has who knows how many non-disclosure agreements and the drip, drip, drip of stories of women saying they have been harassed and discriminated against."

PETE BUTTIGIEG

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor went after both Bloomberg and US Senator Bernie Sanders.

"Most Americans don’t see where they fit if they have to choose between a socialist who thinks money is the root of all evil and a billionaire who thinks that money ought to be the root of all power. Let's put forward somebody who actually lives and works in the middle class neighborhood in an industrial Midwestern city. Let's put forward somebody who's actually a Democrat."

"We shouldn’t have to choose between one candidate who wants to burn this party down and another candidate who wants to buy this party out. We can do better."

JOE BIDEN

The former vice president assailed Bloomberg over the stop-and-frisk policing policy in New York City that was criticized for ensnaring disproportionate numbers of blacks and Latinos.

"The fact of the matter is he has not managed his city very well when he was there. He didn't get a whole lot done. He had stop-and-frisk - throwing close to 5 million young black men up against the wall - and when we came along in our administration, President Obama and I said we're going to send a mediator to stop it, he said that's unnecessary."

Biden said that the Obama administration worked to put an end to the policy.

"Let's get the facts straight. Let's get the order straight. It's not whether you apologize or not, it's the policy. The policy was abhorrent. And it was in fact a violation of every right people have."

AMY KLOBUCHAR

The Minnesota senator responded to reports of the Bloomberg campaign saying the other moderates should drop out to let him fight the liberal Sanders.

"I have been told as a woman, as someone that maybe no one thought was still going to be standing up on this stage, but I am because of pure grit ... I've been told many times to wait my turn and to step aside, and I’m not going to do that now ... I think we need something different than Donald Trump. I think don’t you look at Donald Trump and say, 'We need someone richer in the White House'.”

BERNIE SANDERS

"We are giving a voice to people who would say we are sick and tired of billionaires, like Mr. Bloomberg, seeing huge expansions of their wealth, while a half a million people sleep out on the street tonight ... Maybe it's time for the working class in this country to get a little bit of power in Washington, rather than your billionaire campaign."

Sanders added later: "Maybe we can talk about a billionaire saying that we should not raise the minimum wage, or that we should cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If that's a way to beat Donald Trump, wow, I would be very surprised."

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

"I’m a philanthropist who didn’t inherit his money, but made his money. I’m spending that money to get rid of Donald Trump – the worst president we’ve ever had. And if I can get that done, it will be a great contribution to America and to my kids.”

Bloomberg said he had not mistreated women employees but defended his decision not to release those he settled with from non-disclosure agreements, saying they were made consensualy.

"We have a very few non-disclosure agreements. None of them accuse me of anything ... maybe they didn't like the jokes I told."

Bloomberg criticized his opponents, particularly Sanders, for advocating higher taxes on corporations and forcing unions onto boards.

"I can’t think of a better way that would make it easier for Donald Trump to get reelected than listening to this conversation. We’re not gonna throw out capitalism. We tried that, other countries tried that, it was called communism and it just didn’t work."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global markets: Stocks nudge higher after final US presidential debate

LONDON - Stock markets inched higher but the Mexican peso was mixed after the third and final US presidential debate, which was judged to have given no clear boost to Donald Trump's hopes of winning the White House.

The peso is seen as the chief proxy for market pricing of the Republican candidate's chances in view of his promises to impose tough limits on immigration. It climbed to a six-week high against the dollar in the immediate aftermath of the debate but was down on the day in European trade.

A win for Democrat Hillary Clinton next month - now predicted clearly by polls - is also seen as opening the way for a rise in interest rates, which a number of US Federal Reserve policymakers have all but promised for December.

The peso lost 0.3 percent in morning trade in Europe to 18.567 per dollar. Against a basket of currencies used to measure its broader strength, the dollar was up just under 0.1 percent, close to seven-month highs hit earlier this week.

"The likelihood of Donald Trump becoming president has nose-dived recently to as low as a one in eight probability ... (and) last night's debate has not provided that game-changing moment," said Lee Hardman, a currency strategist with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London.

"The reduction in the political risk premium has helped the US dollar to strengthen broadly this month."

New York Fed President William Dudley overnight gave one of the clearest signals yet that the world's largest economy is ready to take another step away from the ultra-low interest rates that have prevailed since the 2008 financial crash.

He said the Fed would move this year if the economy remains on track. Markets now price in a roughly 70 percent chance of a Fed hike in December.

ECB EYED
The European Central Bank, as expected, changed nothing in policy at its own meeting on Thursday. President Mario Draghi's post-meeting news conference (1230 GMT) will be eyed for confirmation that the bank may extend its bond-buying next year but also for more signs of reticence among policymakers about keeping interest rates endlessly in negative territory.

Among the best news for stocks this week has been a series of upbeat results for US banks, driven chiefly by bond, commodity and currency trading, and the European banking index outperformed the main indexes on Thursday.

France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were around 0.2 percent higher in morning trade. Britain's FTSE 100 dipped by around 0.1 percent, but the bank index was up by 0.8 percent.

US stock markets were also set to open marginally higher.

Earlier, Asian stock markets had advanced, propelled by strong US earnings and oil prices that are near a 15-month high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei extended its gains to 1.1 percent as the yen weakened.

China's CSI 300 was also up 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.6 percent.

With 70 companies in the S&P 500 having reported earnings through Wednesday morning, 80 percent have topped expectations. Third quarter earnings are now expected to increase 0.5 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, which would be the first quarter of growth in five.

Energy shares also contributed to the gains on Wall Street but US crude was down 1.4 percent to $50.88 a barrel on Thursday, after surging 2.6 percent to close at $51.60 the previous session. Brent crude also fell back to $51.92, after climbing 1.9 percent on Wednesday.

"We have quiet commodity markets as the oil price advance pauses, quiet bond markets amid a lack of direction from U.S. data, and stronger Asian equity markets," analysts from French bank Societe Generale said in a morning note.

"(That hasn't) translated into FX strength around the region, but has helped the yen drift a little lower."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Trump, Clinton clash in final debate

In the road to the White House, US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off in the third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas. Both candidates were grilled on substantive issues like immigration and foreign hotspots, but Trump’s response to a question on the peaceful transition of power got the attention of commentators.
Balitang America, October 21, 2016

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Binay major loser in presidential debate: analysts

Vice President Jejomar Binay appears to be the biggest loser in the second round of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) debate, analysts claim Monday.

This, after Binay, who had been misinformed by sponsor network TV 5 about being allowed to bring notes to the debate, caused a one-hour delay in the televised program.

Julio Teehankee of De La Salle University College of Liberal Arts (DLSU CLA) said Binay emerged as this round's major loser after the delay controversy “shattered his narrative that he is the most experienced among all of them.”

Teehankee, who likened the exchange to a “political reality TV" said the debate also “shattered [Binay's] narrative that he is the most experienced among all of them.”


During the debate proper, Binay failed to deflect accusations thrown at him by rivals, said Edna Co of the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (UP NCPAG).

Co observed that Binay once again argued on the legality of these allegations, banking on the fact that no material cases have been filed against him.

“In the end, by people’s perception, the way that he defended himself, or not quite effectively defended himself, is that people still hang on to the idea that there is a reason for suspicion,” she said, adding that the whole spirit of debate is handling the issues and rising above it—hence the losing mark.

Both analysts agree that this will adversely affect Binay's survey ratings.

WHO WON DEBATE? 

Teehankee noted that among the four candidates, Poe was the only one who was an actual debater. Although she lost her cool when she was hit with the issue of citizenship, Teehankee urged people to “cut her some slack” as she had been enduring this allegation for quite some time now.

Co meanwhile described Poe as a “modern Filipino Gabriela,” both with her decorum and debate performance.

“She showed how vigorously she was arguing, she’s showing the character of a strong, modern Filipina, putting up the issues, and confronting three male competitors,” she said on Mornings @ ANC.

Her inexperience, Teenhangkee and Co said, could well be interpreted as a weakness and strength. On one hand, she is a candidate, who like Duterte, is an outsider—not from the administration, not from the opposition—and she has been doing well in the surveys because of this. On the other hand, her answer to Duterte’s question on the coast guards also reflected her lack of political understanding and bureaucracy.

“That reveals a weakness on her part in terms of her broad policy understanding, especially foreign policy and national security. My first response would have been I will convene, I will call for the National Security Council and ask for an immediate briefing on the matter. And then the second would be to contact our key allies, and third would even be to invoke the mutual defense treaty,” Teehankee said.


For Co, meanwhile, Roxas was the sole the winner this round, considering the degree of allegations thrown at him and the defense was able to carry. She noted that he was not only defending his credentials but also the shortcomings of the current administration.

“In last night’s debate, Secretary Mar succeeded in putting the blocks together—which means he was able to see and make the public understand there were failures of the administration but there are successes; there are criticisms against the administration, but he also tried to be the good knight, the good person of the administration by being an insider so he was able to figures and the facts. And I think sounded very convincing,” she said.

Teehankee noted that Roxas' usual weakness was his failure to connect emotionally. He however lauded Roxas' ability to “concretize his vision of decency, rule of law, a rule-based society, a society where there’s equality in terms of government, of government service.”

DUTERTE'S GAIN

Duterte’s significant improvement in this debate, according to the professors, was his effort to soften his image.

Teehankee likened him to a choir boy who was both behave and naughty, and was “pilyo” and “alaskador.” He fired many controversial issues to the other candidates, but his efforts to be charming were more evident in the outtakes where he was seen mixing well with the other candidates, but Teehankee pointed out that his mention of violence could always turn off the independent voters he’s been trying to lure.

“Because his core supporters are essentially attracted to him because of this tough guy, anti-crime macho image, but is not getting any traction beyond Mindanao, beyond his core demographics, he need to attract the independent voter, those who are not convinced that he will be a good president. But I don’t think, despite the fact that he was behave last night, the very fact that he mentioned killing again—‘you cannot be president unless you are willing to die or to kill’—again brings out the red flags in the mind of the independent voters," Teehankee said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com