This article will hopefully be the springboard for discussions of  a variety of important issues facing our nation, not the least of which is our attitude towards immigration from south of the border -  NewsLanc editor.

From PAJAMASMEDIA.COM:

… What follows is a tiny selection of sundry data that sheds some light on why European public finances are in so much trouble:

Demographics: The birth rates in many European countries have fallen to below replacement levels at a time when life expectancy is increasing and populations are aging. As a result, ever-diminishing pools of workers are bearing the growing financial burden for swelling ranks of retirees, who in many cases collect pensions and draw on state health care until well into their 90s…

Chronic Unemployment: In most European countries, chronic unemployment and early retirement are two sides of the same coin. Early retirement essentially is a labor policy that artificially drives down the unemployment rate. The downside of early retirement is that it reduces the tax base while it increases the burden on the social security system, especially in the context of increased longevity…

Cultural Idiosyncrasies: The European social welfare state is also under strain thanks to myriad European cultural idiosyncrasies, such as 35-hour workweeks, six-week paid vacations, bloated public sectors, and widespread tax evasion…

Profligate Politicians: Europe is run by an unwritten social contract by which voters defer questions of public policy to the elites, in exchange for bread and circuses in the form of “cradle-to-grave” social welfare entitlements. This has institutionalized a weak political class that specializes in bribing voters with never-ending amounts of borrowed cash…

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