Are you referring to the EU because europe is a continent full of different countries

Europe is "broke" except for Germany.

"Cuddle capitalism" is collapsing under its own weight, because of insufficiently controlled immigration from poor countries and government hammering the productive with taxes.

Do I want what they have had for a few years before free riders swamp the system?

In short no. It is not viable long term, and the wreckage when it collapses will be much worse than if it had never existed in the first place.

The thing is: We are already there:

- Government in the US spends just as much as many EU countries.

- The US is just as broke as the average EU country. If you look at gross government debt, the US is worse off than most EU countries.

The difference: Instead of providing services to its citizens, the US throws the money down a variety of rat holes including wars in the Middle East, the war on drugs, the TSA, and other "services" that most citizens would probably prefer to do without...

Pretty much what a_random_guy said.

Look at us here in California, we are shit shit shit broke. We make more money than any other state and most countries. But it doesn't matter how much more we keep making if its not spent right. And it's the right and the left that cant stop spending.

We're like a businessman that keeps making more money to support his wife that is running up the credit cards.

You can't tell me it's a European thing. It's a human thing to spend more than you earn.

(And the best part is our military allows them to have socialized medicine so were paying for that too!)

It's a good question, but random and Ppen are correct - it's already been answered, decades ago actually.

People want free shit. Whether it's having babies, medical care, or being able to quit your job while you've still got 20 years of life ahead of you, everyone wants those things and everyone expects everyone else to pay for it.

The math just doesn't work out, but that hasn't stopped legions of mouth-breathing dullards from electing a government that will promise it anyway.

Anyone besides me following the Reddit/Twitter feeds from the Boston area cops? Because honestly I don't give a fuck about Europe today.

I'm going along with the rest. We are already screwed. It's just a matter of when and how the collapse is going to occur.

NicoleK,
I've been up all night following. Absolutely insane!

Local Fox station saw police officers from North Reading. That has to be at least 18 miles away.

Fox Boston channel 25 right now has on someone claiming to be uncle. Missed most of the interview.

Man claiming to be uncle blaming older brother for all this.

Germany is on the road to ruin as well.

Grey Ghost, Japan hit the panic button right after Fukashima too, and their legislature voted to shut down all the nuke plants in Japan. Problem is, most of their electricity comes from nukes.

That decision was pretty quickly walked back by the Japanese voters who threw the bums out of office.

Merkel is trying hard to hold the EU together which is an impossible task. Germany will emerge much better off than many of the other countries when it falls because the German citizens are very debt averse.

When the U.S. collapses there are two options.

1) We are no longer going to be the world's reserve currency. If that happens, it means that the Full Faith and Credit of the U.S. will not be worth the dollar bill. The government will have to take ownership of everything that everyone owns to pay off the notes.

2) We will have to go back to the gold standard. That means every dollar bill in your pocket is worth about 1/64th of a gram of gold. And that only gets worse as the the U.S. Government is digitizing $85,000,000,000 every single month. That would be massive deflation. It will make the Great Depression look like a great time. The nice thing is that the rest of the world's economy would collapse with us.

Buy gold, silver, guns, bullets, non-GMO seeds, shelf stable foods and other stuff that can be used as trade goods.

But that is just my opinion.

"A comment: I would call that economic "security," what the Europeans have."

There is nothing "secure" about it. The social welfare system in Europe has been built on borrowed money, and pension promises that can't be paid. They were a Ponzi scheme to begin with, and we are well past the first tier.

The majority of countries in Europe are in worse shape than the US which is why all governments will soon be running the digital currency presses overtime.
Massive inflation is the only way out of these bubbles, and the people who get screwed will be those who saved their now worthless currency in any form that does not keep up with inflation.
Ergo, Jim's very correct advice.

My additional recommendations for hoarding: Good wine and booze by the case, coffee and tea, shelf stable cooking oils, chocolate, and sugar.