Structural defect?

If the new rules embedded in the fiscal compact treaty would not have stopped the madness during the past decade, what is the point of implementing it now, asks Conor Ryan

ONE of the most compelling arguments for implementing the fiscal compact is that it will stop governments ever playing silly buggers with the national finances again.

But for this clause to be convincing, it is revealing to look at whether it would have done anything to stop the boom-time governments signing off on the measures that got us into this mess.