Little wonder that in those countries, mediocrity is knowingly entrenched.

As a result of the disappearance of these checks and balances, the quality of the government s decisions has fallen sharply.

Reckless lending to the Greek state was based on European creditors terrible decision making.

The international community, and the US in particular, is dreadful at the third stage.

thus says Yahweh of Armies Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that can't be eaten, they are so bad.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.

That is no doubt part of the problem but the underlying problem is that financial markets made some very bad loans.

That has also been the result of Bush s ill conceived democracy crusade in the Arab world.

When the scale of the crisis became clear last year, many were certain that it would be managed badly.

Now it has responded, with a stimulus package that is too little, too late, and badly designed.

Bush s war, with its poor strategic vision and worse planning, increased Iran s regional standing in a way that the country was unlikely ever to have achieved on its own.

It is not just that Europe does not spend enough on hard power, but that what it does spend about 200 billion is spent badly.

Fear may be a great motivator in the short term, but it is a terrible basis for making smart decisions about a complicated problem that demands our full intelligence for a long period.

Relentless efficiency gains in agriculture and resource extraction pushed down prices for commodities, especially during the 1980 s and 1990 s. With few exceptions, countries that focused on commodity exports performed dismally, whereas many resource poor Asian countries raced ahead.