Sunday, May 23, 2010

You don't say?

Payback Time - Deficit Crisis Threatens Ample Benefits of European Life - NYTimes.com

And just a few years ago, they thought they were better off than the U.S.

Europe. Old and allergic to rejuvenation of any sort.

Drink up boys and girls!
The reaction so far to government efforts to cut spending has been pessimism and anger, with an understanding that the current system is unsustainable.

In Athens, Aris Iordanidis, 25, an economics graduate working in a bookstore, resents paying high taxes to finance Greece’s bloated state sector and its employees. “They sit there for years drinking coffee and chatting on the telephone and then retire at 50 with nice fat pensions,” he said. “As for us, the way things are going we’ll have to work until we’re 70.”

In Rome, Aldo Cimaglia is 52 and teaches photography, and he is deeply pessimistic about his pension. “It’s going to go belly-up because no one will be around to fill the pension coffers,” he said. “It’s not just me; this country has no future.

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