Can The European Welfare State Survive? ( Archived) (10)

Six months into the year..what is the growth in the US so far?

Well...I can choose to be political correct,-otherwise there will be a storm raging....Sweden´s official unemployment rate stands at 9%,-which means 410.000.The citizens between 18-65 are approx.5,7 million people(workforce),-and last month´s figures showed that 4,5 million people where employed...That means that approx. 850-900.000 people stand OUTSIDE the labourmarket,(studying,early retirement,governenent spendings,longterm sick),-and easy count...1,3 million people are NOT working....out of a population of 9,3 million...Out of these 4,4 million working,-many are half/part-time,extra,projects,vacancies aso....and worst of all...51% are working with tax-financied spendings(public service??,not sure of the English term)...As companies are being outsourced,due to worlds highest taxes,and the traditional industries are shrinking,-still our govenements tell us that we need people from outside Europe to back up a "forthcoming" workboom...Everybody knows that´s ludichris,-but no-one is allowed to question or criticise....To maintain a welfare system,and lack of tax-income,Sweden´s national debt´s risisng all the time...And no....the glory days won´t be back...

And yes...almost forgot.....and these authors are quite controversial....But Mark Steyn´s "America alone",Walter Laqueur´s "Last days of Europe",and more in the same vein....."While Europe slept"....(can´t recall the author),and also,-the always lovely Bat Yeor....Controversial from a socialistic point of view.....but not if you wanna get some true figures....Yes Ooby Dooby..socialism killed Europe,(at least Sweden/Denmark),-and it´s going to get worse......

Forged out of the ashes of World War II and the end of the Cold War, the European Union was meant to create peace and prosperity across the region. But Europe's debt crisis has laid bare deep financial and cultural divisions within the 27-nation bloc that may never be bridged.

The fateful decision to make the EU effectively a halfway house – tying its member countries into a joint currency and interest rate decisions, while allowing them to retain control over national budgets and taxes – has left the fractured grouping at a crossroads.

Further political and economic integration leading to a common treasury – a central government, in effect – could rescue the ailing 11-year old euro currency, and some say now is the time to sieze the moment.

But what the head orders is not always what the heart desires: Greeks, Germans and even eurozone outsiders like the British are fiercely protective of their independence, their languages and ways, including the right to decide how they spend their own tax dollars.

As the possibility of EU disintegration – or a split among its members – looms larger, the current crisis may just have exposed the futility of ever trying to establish a United States of Europe. The recent agreement by member governments to put up $1 trillion in loans and guarantee to backstop troubled governments remains only a short-term fix to stave off bond market panic.

The current union "was an attempt to put together countries that really weren't ready to be put together," said Stephen Lewis, senior economist at London-based Monument Securities.

"The euro can go limping on for a while and they'll try to enforce the packages for the deficit countries, but ultimately there'll likely be a social explosion amid a sense of hopelessness.