“Greece’s financial crisis, coming after the 2009 global downturn, has Europeans asking whether the economic system that has served them for decades is sturdy enough to carry them prosperously into the future. Greek fiscal mismanagement has raised questions not only about the sustainability of cradle-to-grave welfare states in which healthy adults can retire in their early 60s, but also about the very survival of the eurozone among a smorgasbord of nations with radically different ideas about debt and spending.

Europe is not the only part of the world running deficits, but its shrinking native population, absent brisk immigration, affords it less flexibility. Free-market economists argue that lavish domestic programs crowd out spending on international aid and military modernization and stymie economic growth that could create jobs...”

Excerpt from per Concordiam Staff, “Strong EU Economy Promotes Strong Security,” per Concordiam: Journal of European Security Defense Issues 1, No. 3, 2010: 36-39.

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