Good point weile. There is no free lunch -- the people will all pay for it one way or another. Unemployment is double-digits in most of the E.U. and will remain that way so long as there is such a disincentive to work and the xenophobia persists as it does. As for the birth rate, another good catch -- I should have said population growth rates are near zero in Scandanavia and when coupled with their homogeneous society, it makes the socio-economic comparison with the U.S. and the rest of Europe quite hard.

I will have a Belikin -- put it on klcman's tab.