For those irked by displays of economic self-righteousness, one word sums up the emotions aroused by Germany's current economic plight schadenfreude, joy at another's misfortune. For years, Germany, like Japan, held itself up as an economic paragon. The mighty deutsche mark was the very icon of sound monetary management; Bundesbank presidents scolded fellow Europeans as feckless passengers on a gravy train pulled by the German locomotive.
How are the mighty fallen. It isn't just that Europe's largest economy is at a standstill, with unemployment at almost 10%. What's truly frightening is that inflation in Germany is so...
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