YOU NEED A SCORECARD TO KEEP TRACK: Latest EU Failure: Deficit Targets.

A new IMF report showing that few European countries are expected to hit their target levels of budget deficits is adding fuel to the fires slowly consuming any remaining confidence in the policy pronouncements of European leaders. Shortly after agreeing to new deficit targets for 2013, few countries are on track to meet these targets even after serious budget cuts due to the faltering European economy, the IMF reports.

The list of affected countries includes usual offenders like Greece and Spain, where deficits are nearly two percentage points higher than the target, but also includes newer faces such as France and the Netherlands. And it is difficult to see a policy fix to this problem. . . .

Does a solitary person anywhere believe one word EU leaders say about the state of their economies?

Can anybody anywhere on earth recall such a train of stupid policy decisions, foolish assumptions and failed fixes as the member countries of the eurozone have made since Francois Mitterand demanded the establishment of a single European currency as the price for German unification?

It’s pretty sorry.