Calling time on an ideal civilisation

Risk analysis on society as a whole: Calling time on progress

Europeans thought they were progressing towards an ideal civilisation. Now time is up, and it hurts

Source: the Economist

“VIEWED from afar, Europeans are a complacent, ungrateful lot. Nannied from cradle to grave by the world’s most generous welfare systems, they squeal like spoiled children when asked to give up just a few of their playthings. As governments in the euro zone trim benefits and raise the retirement age in the wake of the sovereign-debt crisis, a wail of indignation has rung out and a wave of protests set in. “Unfair!” thundered Antonis Samaras, the Greek conservative opposition leader, this week, at the government’s proposed pension-reform plans. “Totally unfair!” howled Martine Aubry, the French opposition Socialist leader, at her country’s attempt to do the same.” Read more >