A Politician Speaks the Unspeakable

Germany’s Friedrich Merz says the current welfare state isn’t affordable

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, said at a Christian Democratic Union conference on Saturday that “the welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed with what we produce in the economy.”"

"Nations have built welfare and entitlement states that are so large they have outstripped the ability of slow-growing economies to pay for them. Yet because the entitlement cushion is so broad and reaches deep into the middle class, it has become nearly impossible to reform."