(This article is based on my talk in Rome entitled, “The European Union Meltdown.” It deals with the fact that Europeans and other industrialized nations are simply not reproducing enough to maintain their population. There are a number of factors to blame for this, but the major one I see has to do with the European welfare state and its repercussions. )
Politicians have short attention spans. A long-term plan is the length of an election cycle. We are so dominated by politics that we forget that other institutions have longer planning horizons. The Catholic Church, for instance, famously thinks in terms of centuries. I got a demonstration of this last weekend in Rome, of all places. (more…)
