Star One Smart Blog's

TANSTAAFL, you arrogant European Socialists.

The New York Times sadly reports...

Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits

PARIS — Across Western Europe, the “lifestyle superpower,” the assumptions and gains of a lifetime are suddenly in doubt. The deficit crisis that threatens the euro has also undermined the sustainability of the European standard of social welfare, built by left-leaning governments since the end of World War II.

Europeans have boasted about their social model, with its generous vacations and early retirements, its national health care systems and extensive welfare benefits, contrasting it with the comparative harshness of American capitalism.

Europeans have benefited from low military spending, protected by NATO and the American nuclear umbrella. They have also translated higher taxes into a cradle-to-grave safety net. “The Europe that protects” is a slogan of the European Union.

...

Changes have now become urgent. Europe’s population is aging quickly as birthrates decline. Unemployment has risen as traditional industries have shifted to Asia. And the region lacks competitiveness in world markets.

“The easy days are over for countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain, but for us, too,” said Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, a French lawyer who did a study of Europe in the global economy for the French government. “A lot of Europeans would not like the issue cast in these terms, but that is the storm we’re facing. We can no longer afford the old social model, and there is a real need for structural reform.”

Did I see in that blurb the word CHANGE ? Yes, I did. CHANGE, such as Barack Hussein Obama is desiring in the 'austere' Capitalist system that 'harsh' America is known for? Aren't  we undergoing forced CHANGE to a Eurosocialist model that we now see is admittedly unsustainable?

Pardon me for pointing and laughing.

Seems the USA's Social Democrats are promising, and their mooching voters are demanding, a system that Europe must now flush away.

Who knew?

Well, Milton Friedman knew.

---