It is hard to imagine who would want to be a politician at the moment. But the job still lures ambitious people like almost no other. Yet in most cases the job seems either hopeless or thankless. And often both.

Sitting in the White House, President Obama must be scratching his head wondering how to inject some health into the economy. Prime Minister Papandreou of Greece must feel in an even tighter corner as his government wrestles with the dire consequences of years of economic misrule. And it is not just the Greek people who are watching what he does next. The rest of Europe and all the world’s major economies have a stake in what happens in Athens and are eager for their opinion to be heard. [Read more…]