Reply #18: You are not entirely correct either sir

[bossy22]

Yes, U.S. economic style aided the crisis and was a large part but it wasnt the main issue that brought the question of the european welfare state to the forefront. The truth is this crisis just accelerated what was going to happen in europe anyway (this was the straw that broke the camels back per se). A stable welfare state requires foremost- beyond economics- a stable population demographic. That, europe does not have. For the last few decades they have had declining birth rates (that are now well below replacement rates) and a rapidly aging population (along with stagnant population growth). There are forecasts that show that while the U.S. in the next 30 years will grow by 100 million, europe will decrease by 10 million. Declining and aging populations don't bode well for social services. There will be less and less young working people to support the elders and the system will run out of money.

Europe has a serious problem- one that makes our social security crisis look like mouse. The truth is their is very few options for europe to get out of this mess. Either have more babies or start cutting benefits