Zeros

Europe Is Protesting to Protect Its Social Contract. Americans Might Want to Pay Attention . When Americans see Europeans taking to the streets, the usual explanations are fairly predictable. Somebody is angry about taxes. Inflation is making groceries unaffordable. Immigration is changing the country. Perhaps the government has done something unpopular , and now everybody is marching around with signs. Those explanations aren't necessarily wrong. But they can miss something important about what many European protests are actually about: people are trying to protect benefits and social protections they already consider part of the deal between themselves and their government . For American readers, that distinction might take a little explaining. In much of Europe , public pensions, national healthcare systems, paid leave and unemployment protections are established features of everyday life. The arrangements differ considerably from country to country. Still, the und...