Everyone Wants to Go to Export Heaven

In its latest semiannual currency report, the U.S. Treasury Departmentcriticized Germany's heavy reliance on exports to fuel its economy. Germany's dependence on exports, it said in essence, is the rest of the euro zone's inability to pursue sound economic policy. (It also criticized China and Japan, but presumably they're used to it.)

Now Germany is striking back, essentially telling the U.S. Treasury to go tend to its own knitting. It can't help that this is all developing around the same time as the revelations that our National Security Agency has been spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel. If I were German, I personally would be more than a little irritated.