Wretchard wrote: “Yet it wasn’t meant to be that way. Many of the policies which have mortgaged the European future to provide security in the present were sold as progressive social engineering. They began as well intentioned projects; the government was going to take care of things. Everything would be alright. Nobody asked whether entrusting society to elite institutions run by fallible men would not in the end create a self-sustaining gravy train for the very same people.”

“Progressive social engineering”, particularly the security for all variety, is a ponzi scheme not unlike that pulled off by Madoff. It is simply unsustainable over the longer term and destructive or morale, social fabric, and economic wealth in the near term.