Prime Minister Mark Carney during a press conference on Aug. 26 in Riga, Latvia. Photo by GINTS IVUSKANS/AFP via Getty Images files

Last week German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said what the public needs to hear : “The welfare state that we have today can no longer be financed with what we produce in the economy.” In fact, the welfare state was never affordable. But better late than never! In the OECD taxes have risen as a share of GDP from 25 per cent in 1965 to 35 per cent and that has been accompanied by a half-century growth slowdown.

Merz was mainly referring to Germany’s current fiscal plight: sluggish growth, major new military commitments and rising public debt. Population aging is stressing the public finances, with 19.5 million Germans leaving the workforce by 2036 and only 1

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