Wednesday, June 15, 2005

It's the End of Europe as we know it?

At least Robert J. Samuelson thinks so. Some of the points he are raising is spot on. An aging population with heavy social programs cannot hope to survive without a core change to the way they are doing things. This paragraph is especially telling:

Ever since 1498, after Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and opened trade to the Far East, Europe has shaped global history, for good and ill. It settled North and South America, invented modern science, led the Industrial Revolution, oversaw the slave trade, created huge colonial empires, and unleashed the world's two most destructive wars. This pivotal Europe is now vanishing -- and not merely because it's overshadowed by Asia and the United States.

I don't think Europe is ready to go 100% though. I think some of their young may throw off the fetters of the past and remake Europe into a powerhouse it once was. They will be filled with a new purpose and eschewing the free ride of the past for a self-made future. Well, maybe not.

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