European economics

About the time I returned to England for weeks on business,
El Castor asked some question on the French economic
situation. I get my information from the Economist,

France's performance is about the same as the euro area average.
The best country seems to be Sweden which does as well as the
US but retains its system of social guarantees. My view

El Castor...

Not Sweden -- by a long shot. It's Ireland, and Ireland kick started
it's economy by cutting taxes, both personal and corporate. Ireland
has the lowest corporate tax rate in Europe. Sweden, by the way, also
cut it's top personal tax rate by nearly 50% -- it helped, but they
still lost Volvo. France and Germany, who consider Irish tax cuts to
be "unfair competition", have yet to learn that an economy can't tax
it's way to prosperity.

2005 est. GDP Per Capita:
Sweden $29,800
Ireland $41,000
United States $41,800

of France tends to be narrow since I only deal with the Parisian
real estate market, which has done well since I have been
involved in it. London too but it appears that the run up is
largely over so it is time to unload some items.

El Castor...

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into."
Jonathan Swift