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Why Europe Is Burning

Niall Ferguson · 19 Oct 2026

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2 korrents from this piece ↓

Niall Ferguson did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

  1. Our reading

    The French fiscal crisis is fundamentally caused by generational imbalances in welfare and tax systems.

    Their wordsThe French (and British and Italian) fiscal crisis is at root due to generational imbalances in welfare and tax systems, exacerbated by reflexive Keynesian spending every time anything nasty happens (a financial crisis, a pandemic, a war, an energy shock).

  2. Our reading

    European welfare models are heading toward insolvency.

    Their wordsWith a few exceptions, the various European models are in the early phase of a nosedive into insolvency.

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