Posted by Tina
** On Friday, the EU resisted pressure from the pork-happy U.S. to pump more cash into its recession-hit economies. It had already shoveled out a $270 billion stimulus package of its own, and came up with a $67 billion bailout fund for Eastern Europe. With all that done, the EU wanted to end it. *** “You can’t think you can solve everything with taxpayers’ money. Stimulus packages are already in place and taking us through this challenging time,” said Fredrik Reinfeldt, the prime minister of, brace yourself, Sweden. *** “There is no alternative to globalization as a motor for growth and employment, thus fostering prosperity worldwide,” wrote German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in Der Spiegel on March 19, arguing against spending for its own sake. *** After more than 100 years of socialism…most of Europe has a pretty good idea what socialism is, where it leads and what its limits are. *** While not keen on killing such a central part of their culture, they’re also not blind to its ill effects. These include high unemployment, lack of job mobility, failure to foster business startups, talent flight, hyperinflation and generally slow economic growth. *** All of that comes from the kind of government spending that exceeds the productive capacity of a private sector to finance it. It’s the very stuff Democrats, still steeped in 1940s nostalgia, are gunning for as they spend beyond what they can imagine. **