WHEN Henry Paulson, America’s then treasury secretary, readied a plan to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two teetering housing agencies, in the summer of 2008, he spoke of having a “bazooka” in his pocket. In their response to the sovereign-debt crisis, Europe’s policymakers have tended to favour the peashooter. Their latest salvo in defence of Greece on July 21st produced some favourable initial reports, but the bang has faded. In a strange inversion of the crisis to date, the new bail-out plan seems to have helped the weaker peripherals and hurt the stronger ones.
