Europe?s True Crisis

Another day, another set of crisis headlines?but there is a silver lining: Finally, Europeans are being forced to face up to decades' worth of fundamentally dishonest politics. Since the 1970s, one government after the next has spent, borrowed, and then inflated its way out of the subsequent debt. Then they recovered?only to spend, borrow, and inflate once again. Not coincidentally, this cycle was most severe in countries with weaker democracies. Spain ceased to be a dictatorship only after Franco's death in 1975, Greece was ruled by a military junta from 1967 to 1974, and Italy has had more than 60 governments since World War II. Successive leaders in all of those countries have tried to "buy" the electorate with elaborate pensions, state-sector employment, and other perks. Banks across the continent and around the world have greedily facilitated them.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c46def525b3c634836b9ae14b0b68ee7

gladys knight private practice deion sanders creutzfeldt jakob disease the lone ranger yu darvish mad cow