In a countrywide vote, a clear majority of the public turned down the euro. This defeat may have something to do with the way the euro has performed since it was launched. Since then, the new currency has tumbled, so far losing a quarter of its value. That is a reflection of economic problems in the countries now under the sway of the European Central Bank. Long accustomed to political direction of their economies, Europe's politicians have merely dabbled at economic deregulation over the last decade.
Growth chronically lags U.S. levels by a couple of percentage points.
Two percent less annual growth than America may not sound like so much. Having resisted the free market gospel much more than their trans-Atlantic partners, Europeans now find themselves stuck in the slow lane. One exception to Europe's tepid economic performance has been the Irish. As recently as the late 1970s, when I attended college in Dublin, the country was still a kind of developing nation. Today, after two decades of red-hot growth, the Irish, stunningly, enjoy a per capita income higher than the Germans.