Euro zone crisis is ‘scaring the world’ – Obama

 MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., (Reuters) – U.S. President  Barack Obama said today the debt crisis in Europe was  “scaring the world” and that leaders in the euro zone were not  dealing with the issue quickly enough.  
 The recovery of the U.S. economy suffered setbacks this  year due to problems around the world, Obama said, including  the Arab Spring uprisings that drove up energy prices and  worries about the financial health of European nations.  
 “They have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007  and never fully dealt with all the challenges that their  banking system faced. It is now being compounded with what is  happening in Greece,” Obama said at a “town hall” public  meeting in Mountain View, California.  
 “So they are going through a financial crisis that is  scaring the world and they are trying to take responsible  actions but those actions haven’t been quite as quick as they  need to be.”  
 Obama, on the West Coast to raise funds for his re-election  campaign in 2012, has seen his approval ratings hit by worries  over persistently high unemployment above 9 percent and fears  the United States could slide into another recession.  
 The Democratic president, who pushed through an $800  billion economic stimulus plan in 2009, has set out a new $447  billion plan to create jobs and cut taxes for small businesses  but has faced fresh opposition from Republicans.