European Demise

Newsweek, one of the three primary sources from which I get my information about the world we live in (the other two being The Daily Show/Colbert Report and random links sent to me, mostly from jvance) gave me quite a shock today. Apparently, Europe is in big trouble. I guess it's quite a shock because with all the talk of the decline of the U.S. and the rise of China, Europe isn't so much a concern for Americans...which I feel in itself could be a reflection of Europe's woes. Some of the figures quoted in this article are nothing short of staggering. The most dramatic of which are that if current trends remain as they are, many European citizens will be one half as wealthy as U.S. Citizens, the combined GDP of the EU is about the same as that of the U.S. despite the fact that they have 170 million more people (that's the same amount of money for less people), and 40 percent of Swedes would be considered to be low-income if they were in the United States. The article points out that part of this is Europeans preference for quality of life and while their quality of life may be deemed to be superior currently (with less working hours, better healthcare, and cheaper education), it appears that, without change the quality of life will begin to falter as well.

Another part of this article that really interest me is the part where they comment on how Europe is not producing very much research and that they aren't really looked to for groundbreaking work. And one pharmaceutical company CEO said that

in 10 years, the three most important countries for his industry would be the United States, China, and India.

I was quite surprised by this considering all the hoopla that's been in the news recently about the United States falling behind other countries, including many in Europe, in the fields of math and science. If we're falling so far behind, how is Europe not remaining above us?

Wow, this is a much more serious post than I'm used to writing. Worry not, I'll be back to putting up something irreverent soon enough. I've posted this before...but it should suffice for now:

Things went sour not too long after that.
She started sagging and our love it went flat.
I through her out through my front door.
Now I need another...wife.

Oh, I don't mind if you marry me for money,
As long as every night I can have sex with you
You want cash and I need ass.
I'll buy you clothes if you have my kids.