It is a perfect storm. The population implosion of Europe is hitting just when the bills are coming due for two generations of a continent-wide Mommy State. Right now the Eurozone and the USA are at rough parity in terms of GDP. But over the next generation the population of Europe will remain static even with immigration from Africa, while America will grow 25%. European industry would need spectacular increases in per-capita productivity to even remain where they are, but that is not likely when you are importing unskilled labor and taxing them to the gills to pay for a 35 hour work week, month-long vacations, and retirement before age 60. Taking a whole continent off-line should go a long way toward mitigating the effects of peak oil.