The slowest rowers, the weakest rowers, are going to get cut from the team.

Over the last decade, Germany has been the slowest growing economy in the European Union, and Europe has been the slowest growing continent in the world. From 1995 to 2005, Germany will have grown by only 14.6 , while the old EU on average will have grown by 24 , the US by 39.9 , and the world economy by 45.6 .

Africa, long the world s slowest growing region, is now averaging roughly 5 annual GDP growth. Overall, the developing countries are growing at around 7 per year, and the developed economies at around 2 , yielding a global average of around 4.5 .

Indonesia is not only addressing deforestation, but will begin phasing out fossil fuel subsidies for private cars next month. Many countries and companies are forging ahead, signaling a determination not to be held hostage by the slowest at the official negotiating table.

Wages have risen substantially more elsewhere in Europe, despite the depth of the economic crisis. Given that Germany also has one of the eurozone s lowest investment rates, its GDP growth is likely to be among Europe s slowest in the coming years, making significant wage increases unlikely.

There is nothing inherently optimal, they say, about a level playing field in international finance. Attempts to develop a single European financial market have, in their view, forced countries to respond to the failings revealed by the 2008 crisis at the speed of the slowest ship in the convoy.

The Bank of Japan and the ECB were, characteristically, the slowest to react, keeping their policy rates higher for longer, and not undertaking QE and other extraordinary liquidity measures until late in the day. Indeed, it required new leaders in both institutions Haruhiko Kuroda at the BOJ and Mario Draghi at the ECB finally to set monetary policy right.