I just spent two days with 30 mostly European businessmen and women and many things they said about the economic conditions back home closely echo the views expressed in the article. One Frenchman bemoaned the blindness of the protesters in the streets who stubbornly demand state entitlements and privileges that France can clearly no longer afford. "Well at least, being Frenchmen, we don't have to waste amy money on Viagra!" he joked.

Another observation - to a person, the Europeans had absolutely no interest in discussing the squabble with America over Iraq. They just want to put it in the past and discuss business opportunities with Americans.

(however the one Australian present was quite overly enthusiastic about the exploits of Aussie SAS soldiers...got a chuckle out of that)

And you have not experienced sheer boredom in your life until you've spent a 1/2 hour listening to a heavily accented lecture on Finnish taxation...