"When we look at productivity performance, we see that the very best member states are twice as productive as the lowest performers," wrote Mr. Barroso, who as president of the commission is the top official in the administrative arm of the Union.
For those concerned that the very best that the state sector can offer might not be quite up to snuff, Tatler has consoling words.
But they will be applauded if they discriminate in favour of a few more of the minority of the very best students from state schools.
"Right this minute, the kids in San Angelo are getting the very best that the state has to offer in terms of attention and energy," said Scott McCown, director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a research group in Austin that focuses on low-income families.
Further south again, South Goa lays claim to the very best of the state's beaches, a slower pace both of life and of tourism development, and a heady combination of emerald paddy fields, white sands beaches and warm, azure waters.
"The Federal Election Commission has done its very best to make the state-by-state limits irrelevant," said Trevor Potter, who as commission chairman in 1994 rewrote the rules in a way that essentially eliminated the limits.
"In fact, the very best predictor of a state's peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level of democracy, or its ethno-religious identity; the best predictor of a state's peacefulness is how well its women are treated," Hudson wrote in a piece for Foreign Policy.
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said Mr. Powers has "one of the very, very best political minds in the state".
For that reason, it can be hard to pinpoint the very best craft brewery in each state.
