Apparently, some skeptics in Europe think Dubya's crew is mismanaging the economy:

... across Asia and Europe, a wide range of officials and analysts worry that Mr. Bush's economic team may not be up to the challenge of grappling with the issue. They contend that Washington has retreated from efforts to marshal the biggest economies of the world into a mutual effort at more robust and balanced growth.

But this is nonsense, proclaims Treasury Secretary John Snow:

Mr. Snow, for his part, paints a vastly different picture of the international economic landscape. He described the current situation as one of America's remaining the economic envy of the world, where yawning deficits are being addressed and where there is little risk that foreigners will rethink the wisdom of lending the United States hundreds of billions of dollars a year to finance the trade gap and to cover the vast borrowing needs of the federal government.

Other skeptics about the American economy worry about a housing bubble. Again, nonsense. If a 4300 square foot palace in the French countryside, with more space in outbuildings on 27 landscaped acres, is being listed for about the same price as a nice 700-square-foot one bedroom apartment in Boston's Back Bay, that clearly reflects that the two properties have the same intrinsic value. To suggest otherwise is to question the intrinsic wisdom of the marketplace. What are you going to believe -- the market or your own lying eyes?

French real estate listing via, of all things, the Dresden Dolls' fan message board...