[Vocabulary] the sick man of . . .

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Hi,

I'd like to know whether the phrase the sick man of . . . has a ring of contempt or derision to it in the following:

Today, Europe again looks like the sick man of the global economy.’

‘Many is the occasion that I have lauded the economy's transformation from the dire days of the 1970s, when Britain was the sick man of Europe.’


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I'd appreciate your help.

 

[jutfrank]

Please remember to include sources in post #1, preferably with links.

The more context we have, the easier it becomes to detect tones.

 

[raymondaliasapollyon]

Please remember to include sources in post #1, preferably with links.

The more context we have, the easier it becomes to detect tones.

Today, Europe again looks like the sick man of the global economy. Its economies have some slack and room to grow; by contrast, the US economy is at full resource use with little room to grow at it recent pace, triggering a series of “measured” rate rises. The argument that the dollar should be strong against the euro based on current growth rates and correspondingly different expectations regarding interest rates has engendered strong private speculative flows in favor of the greenback over the course of 2005.

 

[GoesStation]

I wouldn't call it contemptuous, but when a country becomes the "sick man" of a region (usually Europe), it does not speak well of the author's opinion of how that country has been governed.