When It Comes to Europe, Robert Samuelson Is Upside Down

Robert Samuelson tells readers today:

"the economies of many European countries are no longer strong enough to support their welfare states."

This would be more obviously true if Europe seemed to be suffering from a problem of excess demand. That would be a story in which government spending on the welfare state was driving up interest rates and crowding out private investment and consumption.

Nowhere in Europe do we see anything that resembles this story. Instead we see an economic collapse...