The accolades accorded "The Iron Lady" are right next to mind-numbing.
David Cameron claims she "saved" Britain.
Steven Harper claims she ushered in an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.
Gorbachev, Kohl, Clinton... everybody is paying homage today.
Here's a motherlode of stats on the British economy.
If you compare key stats from the year before she took up residence at 10 Downing to stats from the year after she left, you'll see she had some accomplishments.
Total government spending tripled during her tenure. That's a pretty dubious claim to fame for a slash-and-burn union-busting right-winger.
And while she did triple defense spending, public spending on health, education, and welfare grew even faster than military spending.
In the first five years of her reign unemployment doubled.
And of course, taxes on high earners were slashed.
And there is no question that over the course of her tenure the influence of organized labour was exponentially diminished if not outright extinguished.
As for the "era of peace and prosperity," the great victory in the Falklands did for Britain what the great victory over Grenada did for America; open the door to an era of hubristic imperial overreach that both countries pay a steep price for to this day.
Her most disappointing legacy is that she left the door open for "New Labour."
Without the bitter aftertaste left by the Iron Lady, Britons would never have elected Phony Tony.
Then they had a real neo on their hands, and they'll be paying for that gaffe for generations to come.
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