ECONOMY: "Policy failure on a massive scale"

The Economist: "Leaders in America and Europe are dallying with failure on an epic scale. They are constrained by dysfunctional institutions, it's true.... In America, the creaking machinery of the legislature is ill suited to settlement of big questions on a short time frame amid divided government. But it's no longer sufficient to blame inadequate policy responses on institutions alone. America and Europe are flailing because their leaders are failing. They seem to be too small for the tasks at hand, too petty, and too myopic."