am of the firm opinion that intellect and the hairline have an inverse correlation. In his usual nerdy articles Daniel Lak has apparently succumbed to the gin-tonic blues of summertime. I happen to be German and, sadly, Lak hasn't taken the liberty to read statistics and biz papers ('The Anglo-Saxon disease', #205):

1 Productivity higher than in the US? Compare the ROI of US companies with German companies and consult The Economist.
2. 35-hour working weeks? Lak, put the high ball aside and talk to German workers.
3. Companies are profitable? In the second last quarter more than 10,000 companies went bankrupt in good old Deutschland.
4. The top German banks are under a constant threat of being taken over by big foreign banks. And what's not to like when a hedger makes a cool billion buckaroos by betting against a currency. Here lies the insurance policy of Nepal: nobody can attack its currency because it is only paper.

Hans B Nix,
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