Less Government, More Growth? Belgium Gets Ahead
12th September 2011
More than 500 days of talks to form a government have seen Belgium take from Iraq the dubious honor of taking the longest time ever to form a government, prompting attacks by bond vigilantes as well as international ridicule.
But with economic growth in the country now surpassing that of many of its euro zone peers, are Belgians having the last laugh? The Belgian economy grew 0.7 percent in the second quarter, outpacing growth in the euro zone as a whole and significantly better than Germany, traditionally Europe’s growth engine, which recorded a meager 0.1 percent growth in the second quarter.
Maybe we ought to try that in the U.S.