Bíblico

La paja en el ojo ajeno...

...On the euro-zone level, policy makers are acutely aware of these problems, but have been unsuccessful in tackling them. So they have turned their attention to imposing these anti-growth policies on their competitors. 

France is insistent that Ireland raise its 12.5% corporate tax rate; the EU wants to impose its high-cost anti-carbon policies on America by levying tariffs on made-in-the-USA products; EU Commissioner for Internal Markets Michel Barnier wants tighter regulation of Britain's world-class financial sector and European-style regulation of bankers' compensation in America; and French president Nicolas Sarkozy thinks that the Internet is such a major contributor to economic growth that, you guessed it, it needs more regulation.

Y la viga en el propio:

The daily soap opera being performed by the stars of Euroland drama is gripping fare. The Greek government and its trade unions; the European Central Bank; the International Monetary fund; various euro-zone institutions; German chancellor Angela Merkel; and assorted bit players strut and fret across our television screens and financial pages, in the end signifying very little.

 But one way or another these immediate crises will be resolved. ECB boss Jean-Claude Trichet will in the end be reluctant to bring down Greece's banks. Ms. Merkel knows that if the troubled countries are allowed to meet the fate written on their ledgers, the under-capitalized German banking sector might go down with them. And the eurocracy prefers buying time in the Micawberish hope that something will turn up to keep Euroland from fracturing, rather than face reality.

By IRWIN STELZER, en WSJ