'Can Europe still pay for benefit state', says George Irvin
01 May '06
1 min read
George Irvin
Euobserver announces the statement by George Irvin:
Can Europe still afford the welfare state?
It's amazing how many people seem to think the answer to the above question is 'no'. Globalisation, one hears repeatedly, makes the world increasingly competitive, driving down prices and killing of manufacturing industry.
If Europe is to survive, it must cut costs, particularly the tax burden shouldered by business.
That means shedding our dependence on long paid holidays, lavish unemployment benefit, generous pensions and other such luxuries we can ill afford.
Respectable economists and politicians in London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels repeat this argument. It is particularly popular in America where Europeans are seen as 'welfare addicts'. Nevertheless, it is nonsense.
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