In a section entitled, The Sluggish European Union, Richard Sandhusen’s book, Marketing, describes the economic problems of the EU– highlighting, among other things, the inefficiency of the “extensive social welfare system” and a sub-par work ethic:

An extensive social welfare system that the Europeans can no longer afford in the competitive global economy, including expensive systems of health care, pensions, unemployment insurance, and family aid that havie defined European social and economic policies since World War II. In Germany, for example, 37-hour work weeks, fully paid maternity leaves, and 40 days off each year are mandated. In France, the four-day work week is becoming a mandated reality. These social payments help keep deficits high and, with no broad consensus to change the welfare systems, are difficult to cut. Since World War II, Britain is the only government elected on a plank to reduce the size of government; in France, labor protests paralyzed parts of France at the prospect of minor cuts in social payments in 1996.

Lots of Americans point to the way it’s done overseas as if to say this is how it should be in the States, but they often don’t consider the downside. Social welfare systems are slowly crippling the European economy, according to Sandhusen, and he goes on to say that the formation of the EU (with its protectionist attitude toward international trade) may be an attempt to prolong the solvency of these economies without yielding to necessary reforms.