You are precisely correct, again, Ed.

The articles that “free mkt economists” wrote about the “newly most free” countries, are laughable now..or is it cryable.

Europe’s biggest mistake was that it allowed itself to become too Americanized — that is, it bought into all the wonderful “financial innovations” from the US.

These flimsy financial contraptions, laughingly known as “securities” (you know, as in “sure things”), are particularly dangerous investments for countries whose currencies are not the world reserve currency — that is, not the US dollar. In the US, our debts are in dollars, and we can pay them in our own currency. If the value of the dollar falls, our existing debt load does not rise, since our debts are in dollars. But in Iceland, for example, they ran up huge debts that had to be paid in dollars or other foreign currencies, and then their own currency collapsed relative to these other currencies. This vastly increased the effective debt load, something from which Americans are largely (so far) immune.

So gee whiz — why do they hate us? Can anybody still be wondering?

Here is what The Heritage Foundation had to say abou Ireland in June, 2006: (ah…“free mt” economies)http://www.heritage.org/Research/WorldwideFreedom/bg1945.cfm

“...Ireland achieved this success through a combination of sensible policies and pragmatism. At the heart of these policies was a belief in economic openness to global markets, low tax rates, and invest­ment in education. While eco­nomic success over the past 15 years can be ascribed to a range of domestic and international fac­tors, it was not a fluke. Ireland has long had, and intends to sustain, low tax rates to attract investment. Its current 12.5 percent corporate tax rate evolved from the zero rate on export sales in the 1950s and the 10 percent rate on manufac­turing and some internationally traded services introduced in 1980.

Ireland’s transformation was national in scope, with individu­als, businesses, institutions, and government sharing the same ambition. It involved parents deciding that their children would have choices that they did not have and would not be forced to leave their home com­munities because of economic necessity. Political decisions were driven and sustained by the public will for success. There were some deviations from sensible policies at times, but through the many difficult years, the threads of consistent develop­ment can be seen. This paper explains how the transformation occurred.”

wow…it is very sad..

Is this the “new Europe” or the “old Europe?” Sliding into the economic doldrums. How sad. Welcome to the ghetto.