Germany Has Outperformed the U.S. Because of Work Sharing

Nicholas Kristoff uses his column to take a shot at Mitt Romney's economic policies. While the basic point, that austerity will lead to slower growth and higher unemployment, is correct, placing Germany as a basket case alongside the U.K. is not. While the U.K. has aggressively cut its budget deficit, Germany has not been as ambitious in this respect. (Its deficit had not been as large.)

Germany is primarily feeling the effects of budget cuts in the other euro zone countries, which are largel...