Success and advice cast a giant as a villain, not a model, in Europe

"The Germans often don't sufficiently appreciate how wrenching the economic changes are that they're prescribing," said Philip Whyte, a senior research fellow at the CER in London. Germany, Mr Whyte said, was trying to remake all of Europe after its competitive, export-driven economic model, without understanding the connection between its success and foreign indebtedness in countries like Greece, which for years used borrowed funds to purchase German goods. "Not everyone can be like Germany," Mr Whyte said. "The world as a whole doesn't trade with the moon."