1. The welfare system in Europe is entirely sustainable in the long term. It's just a matter of national priorities. Conservatives consistently attack the socia

1. The welfare system in Europe is entirely sustainable in the long term. It's just a matter of national priorities. Conservatives consistently attack the social safety net: in their view the government is always "too big", taxes "too high", and the welfare system "too expensive". A welfare system can also be large and balanced. Just raise the taxes necessary to pay for it. 2. Greece CANNOT pay the money back, because they don't have it. The question that remains is whether we punish the Greek people for something they had no say in and did not benefit from. I say punishment here is counterproductive and immoral. When banks or institutional investors make dumb investments they have to lose their money. The responsibility for due diligence lies primarily with the lender. The amount of interest they charge is compensation for the riskiness of the loan. The banks decided to lend money to Greece and Germany at the same interest rate. That's plain insanity. You can't expect financial mastery from regular people, but you can --and should-- demand it from billion dollar pension funds.