And when the economy is weak, as it is now throughout much of Europe, the structural balance will look deceptively weak, because anemic growth or even recession balloons the deficits of Europe's governments.

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U.S. economic growth turned even more anemic after the first quarter, when GDP grew by 2%.

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Removing the inventory build-up from the reported numbers, the real growth rate was an even more anemic 1.5%.

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