An ebbing tide

After a 20-year ascendancy, are those rigorous virtues of conservative economics – sound money and small government – in retreat? President Bush has just announced unlimited Federal help for rebuilding and social reconstruction, outraging the small conservative wing of his Republican party. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel was riding high in the polls until she appointed Paul Kirchof, a passionate advocate of flat taxes, as her chief economic adviser. It probably cost her the election. This follows a w...