It would have been worth mentioning this fact in a piece that discussed Germany’s effort to insist on fiscal responsibility in the euro zone’s member states in the context of support for bailouts. Most of the currently troubled countries, with the major exception of Greece, would have met almost any standard of fiscal responsibility prior to the crisis.

The current problems of these countries stem from the collapse of housing bubbles that for some reason the top officials of the European Central Bank either did not see or did not take seriously. It would have been worth pointing out that Germany’s fiscal responsibility agenda would not have helped in the current situation.