I think this is actually a great point. To expand on it a bit further, imagine that the US ceased to exist tomorrow. Europe would have to massively increase its

I think this is actually a great point. To expand on it a bit further, imagine that the US ceased to exist tomorrow. Europe would have to massively increase its own defense spending, or else risk that China or Russia would decide to walk right in. That massive increase would have to come at the cost of social services, or else further increase their already considerable debt-to-gdp ratio.