Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The collapse of the housing bubble, the huge financial hit of bailing out troubled
banks, and the incalculable expense of other corporate malfeasance devastated European
economies—making it even more challenging for them to finance their generous entitle-
ments.
Further complicating matters are Europe's shifting population demographics.
Europe's luxurious cradle-to-grave welfare system was conceived in a postwar society
with lots of people working, fewer living to retirement, and those living beyond retirement
having a short life span. The success of Europe's social system has helped make the con-
tinent better educated and wealthier. But when that happens anywhere, it has two results:
People live longer and have fewer children. And so, the demographic makeup of Europe
has flipped upside-down: relatively few people working, lots of people retiring, and those
who are retired living a long time. Europe is becoming a geriatric continent. The arithmet-
ic just isn't there to sustain the lavish entitlements Europeans have come to expect.
As in the USA, it's difficult to take away expected entitlements without a fight. Politi-
cians in Europe have the unenviable task of explaining to their citizens that they won't get
the cushy golden years their parents got. People who worked diligently with the promise
of retiring at 62 are now told they'll need to work an extra decade—and even then, they
may not have a generous retirement waiting for them.
I expect you'll see lots of marches and lots of strikes in Europe in the coming years as
they try to recalibrate their economy.
