Protectionism vs the free market

Once more it seems that the forces of self-interest and blinkered short-sightedness are running rampant through the streets of Europe and beyond. The concept of a single European financial services market is a simple one, and the benefits transparent to anyone who believes that encouraging competition tends to improves the value of goods and services. And yet this month, Germany, Belgium and Australia have once again shown that the forces of domestic interest overcome not only commonsense but also signed and sealed international agreements. Germany has shown the most schizophrenic behav...