Sunday, April 27, 2008

Euro Vibe

Gosh darn that Rick Steves. He's just so jolly and fop-ish and humbly bumbling and lucky to trollop around the Continent for a living. He makes me jealous every weekend when I flip on PBS and find him in České Budějovice sampling Pilsners with the bearded, weathered locals or donning lederhosen to mountaineer with some sehr gesundliche Swiss retirees in Zermatt.

I wish I was on the Continent. with a fast car and a cappuccino, but alas I've put my Spanish summer vacation plans on hold. Since I no longer work for a European firm, I don't even have a business excuse to go pay ten bucks for a Coke and a newspaper at De Gaulle.

I can't even justify buying a good Châteauneuf-du-Pape, although the silver lining of that one is that I've found some nice Argentinian Malbecs and California Central Coast Syrahs.

The dollar will come back, and then I'll go. Europe always lags the US and everything is always in slow motion there. Let's say we have a sorry 2009 but in 2010 the US grows by 4% for a year and then settles back to 1% for 3. Europe will show up in 2011 with 3% growth and stay there through 2012, after which they'll have a protracted 10 years of no growth in response.

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