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http://www.intellectualactivist.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1174I am not surprised that an argument blaming it on the welfare state appeals to you. My take is different. (Shocker!) While Greece is certainly culpable in its own troubles, the real problem as I see it is that the European Union is really only a loose confederation. The group is not required to backstop any member who gets in trouble. In fact the agreement specifically forbids bailouts. (Do you suppose the Germans were behind that one?) The Wall Street Journal recently asked, not entirely jokingly, "Who will default first, Greece or California?" The reason it won't be California is they are part of a larger entity which will not let them default. Greece and the other troubled "PIIGS" have all the disadvantages of an economic union -- for instance, being unable to devalue their currency to spur exports -- and evidently few advantages.
I never thought the Euro was going to work in the long term. Too much disparity between the countries, plus they are sort of united and sort of not. So maybe I'm right once in a while.
