If a ballistics expert were so poor at his job that his artillery routinely fired missiles into the sea or, worse still, at his own men, he would soon be removed from office. He might perhaps be purged more dramatically, pour encourager les autres. No such logic would seem to apply, however, in either politics or economics in the west, where discredited practitioners of failed theories are allowed to pontificate and spend into absurdity. We cannot say with certainty what was spooking European investors prior to last week's make-or-break summit (the 14th such "crisis summit" in 21 months), but it seems plausible to argue that they were concerned about an unsustainable build-up of credit, credit risk and leverage. Happily, those concerns have now been put to rest, because the euro zone's leaders have pledged more credit, more credit risk, and more leverage. To put it another way, Messrs Sarkozy and Merkel have bought more time, albeit time paid for with yet more borrowed money.

David Fuller's view Interestingly, Tim Price mentions Weimar in this latest letter. Don't miss it.