$98 per barrel oil

Jay Honeck wrote in news:1194886120.503835.134330@
57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com:

They started building their welfare system in the late 19th/early 20th
century. At that time they were still comparatively poor as their
economies were mostly agricultural. They got rich after WW2, and used
that money to massively expand their welfare systems. The expansion
stopped with the recessions in the 1990s and 2000s, so did the tax
rises. Their budgets are now at equilibrium, and the economy is going
strong once again.

The Western European welfare economies could only exist because they
lived under the umbrella of America's protection from the Soviet
Union. Not
having to spend money on self-defense is a wonderful thing, but don't
count
on it lasting for too many more "generations" -- cuz we're broke.


Good grief.



Bertie