Very interesting. The europeans by law have to keep their deficit below 3% of GDP and France and Germany have been running 4 or 5% ever since it went into effect. And they say that the US should put its house in order??
right. Everyone downplays econ growth which works like coumpound interest.
The euros are in much worse shape, so thier long term rates are higher.
They make the classic mistake of looking at America's deficit and thinking wow that is a huge number. And it is, but its smaller relative to our economy, then their defecits on average have been, compared to their own economy.
Of course I'm sure the top policy people in Europe understand that, just their spokespeople and politicians use the 'well at least we're not as bad as America' line. The average European doesn't get that you have to put these numbers in context... they just hear a gigantic number and think 'ooh it sucks to be them'.