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Will Crisis-Ridden Europe Find Its Own Alexander Hamilton?
What will it take to fix a European Union troubled by heavy debts and internal friction? The story of the U.S., which celebrates its 235th year of independence on July 4, offers a parable that Europe’s leaders might find instructive. In the late 18th century, financial troubles threatened to tear apart the newly formed union. In many ways, the crisis was not unlike the one Europe is now trying to contain with a second bailout of Greece. After the Revolutionary War, the huge debts of states such as Massachusetts and South Carolina were strangling an already depressed economy. A farmers’ rebellion against rising ... (full story)