Global Competitiveness Report 2002-2003:

France slides from 20th to 30th. Fits perfectly with the rosy picture painted by Socialists Apparatchiks who keep claiming (even after they spectacularly lost the latest presidential and parliamentary elections) that France is going better. Right into the wall, that is. When you rank behind Estonia, Malaysia, Slovenia and Hungary for growth competitiveness, it's high time you realized there's something deeply wrong with how things are run.

Hello-o-o-o? That noise must be the sound of my voice echoing in emptiness. The current center-left government [*] is having wishful thinking of its own by forecasting 2.5%+ growth for next year. Reality isn't really sinking yet.

[*] Don't mistake Chirac and his minions for right-wing politicians, let alone free-market proponents.

11/14/02 update: France ranks 40th in the 2003 Index of Economic Freedom. The introductory paragraph is scathing but the scolding is utterly deserved.

12/04/02 update: Schröder is leading Germany to disaster, Demographics and the Dustbin of History.