Nose to the Grindstone, Sort Of

I was barking at my kids last night for leaving their homework until the tail end of their vacation, when I realized that I had done exactly the same thing. The Trunk and I have promised an article for the next issue of American Enterprise; the Trunk has done his part, of course, and now it’s up to me to finish it off. Naturally, I left the task to the last day of my own vacation. So I probably won’t be posting much today.
One quick note, though, on the subject (discussed by Deacon last night) of whether Europe has found a better way than the U.S. and thus represents the future. A basic question would be: which Europe? Larry Kudlow writes:

Tax cuts and other free market reforms are paying off in three central European economies slated to join the European Union on May 10, 2005. Stock indexes in the Czech Republic and Hungary are each up more than 50% in the past year. Poland is up 21%. The top twenty central European companies by market value are up 39%. In contrast, German and French stocks are up about 8%. The Polish economy is expected to grow 5% this year, while Old Europe growth is coming in les than 2%. Of course, EU bureaucrats want to stop New Europe from competing with lower tax rates. Sclertic Old Europe wants to harmonize at higher tax rates. New Europe understands political as well as economic freedom, and hopefully will fight Chirac and company on both counts.

Somehow, though, I don’t think the European triumphalists are talking about Poland.

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