The Only Good Reason for the European Union

By James Lewis

A public fight is breaking out in Europe, where the welfare model is breaking down along the southern rim -- Greece, Italy, Spain, maybe France -- as well as in the former Celtic Tiger of Ireland. Those countries are the equivalent of welfare frauds, with centuries of experience in beating taxes, laws, and regulations. The Italians figured out how to beat imperial decrees back in Roman times, and they never stopped honing their skills. Cheating on taxes is a high art form in Italy.

The harder-working Northern European countries, like Germany and Britain, are furious at the welfare cheats, as if they haven't always subsidized their own cheating classes to keep their socialist parties in power. With Arab countries from Egypt to Tunisia close to keeling over and running out of money for food imports, the whole Mediterranean basin is in crisis with the sole exception of Israel, which is becoming a new Silicon Valley.

Considering how Europe enjoyed its orchestrated rage, scandal-mongering, and catcalling at the Bush administration only a few years ago, I'd say it couldn't happen to a nicer subcontinent.

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