The Unsustainable Truth-2

The welfare states as practiced in European countries (and to a lesser extent the U.S.) has been good to people in those countries when the competition was less and the population growth was sustaining the old people and also people were living less longer than they are today. But the technological advances in medicine and science have given way to people to live way longer than these welfare programs were originally intended. Further more because of this advances young people are postponing getting married and having children and also the high cost of living in these countries have made these people hesitant to take on more responsibilities than they already have. The consequence is that the population is aging faster than the population replacement or growth and as such the taxes are going either up or the states are taking more debt to pay for their aging population.

In addition to the above, most of the people are cushioned against high unemployment by a variety of programs that may or may not sustain their living conditions during their unemployment period. In Greece people employed by the states are more and more going on strikes to maintain their jobs without caring about how their government will pay for all that they are striking more. It is a big dilemma. If they cut jobs or curtail programs the government is at risk of facing more strikes and violence and if they don’t do anything then the government will have to take on more debt at a time European union people are in no mood to give them much aid.