Reading the news of riots in Paris and political paralysis in Italy makes China look pretty good, in terms of pragmatism. Democracy is great, but my view, from a watchtower on the China coast, would be that a significant proportion of voters in France and Italy and possibly other European countries have failed to spot the key trends in global economics. They will suffer the inevitable consequences. The bottom line is that the balance of growth has shifted to Asia, and Europe has to give up its deficit spending ways.