I've always thought that the US economy will resemble Europe's over time... Lower growth, higher taxes, higher entitlements, lower standard of living, generally...
We're creeping that way and it seems that our next import from Europe will be financial austerity as the government can't afford all of it's planned obligations. On Page A12 of last Friday's WSJ, our future is laid out in two articles about Europe: Spain Tightens Reins On Budgets, Banks and U.K. Budget Will Target Welfare Payouts.
