Day 2,000: Sensible, make a dent, mock, profligate, porcine

Sensible, ie painful, budgets will not be passed. Economic growth would make all that easier, but France is growing by barely 1% a year—not too bad for the euro zone, but not nearly enough to make a dent in the budgetary problem.

Northern Europeans used to mock the PIGS—Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain—for their profligate ways. France has now turned porcine, while the PIGS have largely reformed.

France steps into deep trouble

Artwork of the day 
The heartstrings
Rene_Magritte
Original Title: La Corde Sensible
Date: 1960; Belgium
Style: Surrealism
Period: Later Period
Genre: symbolic painting
Media: oil, canvas
Location: Private Collection
Dimensions: 114 x 146 cm

Word of the day 
Sensible: based on or acting on good judgment and practical ideas or understanding:
make a dent: to reduce an amount of something, esp. money or work:
mock: to laugh at someone, often by copying them in a funny but unkind way:
profligate: spending money or using something in a way that wastes it and is not wise:
porcine: relating to pigs:

Quote of the day
“Every day one should at least hear one little song, read one good poem, see one fine painting and -- if at all possible -- speak a few sensible words.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe