The papers the other day reported that the Baltic countries are in serious trouble. The crisis has hit them harder than it has Poland. Latvia’s economy contracted 4.2% in one quarter. I patiently await a rash of articles highly critical of the flat tax which the Baltic countries embraced in the 90s. Patiently waiting… Waiting patiently…

Their problems in the Baltic countries are not all that new. In 2007 they were worried about high inflation but there was little they could do because they had pegged their currencies to the euro and could not do anything about the interest rates in the eurozone, which are determined by Jean-Claude Trichet.