Krugman, Ya Bum!

Here's the gist of Tom Friedman's New York Times column yesterday:

The fact that a top German politician has resorted to attacking capitalism to win votes tells you just how explosive the next decade in Western Europe could be, as some of these aging, inflexible economies—which have grown used to six-week vacations and unemployment insurance that is almost as good as having a job—become more intimately integrated with Eastern Europe, India and China in a flattening world….Yes, this is a bad time for France and friends to lose their appetite for hard work—just when India, China and Poland are rediscovering theirs.

Part of me want to believe it's not just coincidence that at the end of all that, we're informed:

Paul Krugman is on vacation.