It is said that the reason many poor are opposed to social programs that benefit them is [a fear of coming in “last.”][last place aversion]

If that is the case, the [impending implosion of the euro][euro ends], as [predicted for years by center-left economists][can europe be saved], offers a marked example of schadenfreude for us Americans.

Besides the obvious worry over whether the death spiral will reach our shores, there’s the question of how [Rupert-Murdoch-on-steroids][sylvio berlusconi] could run the third largest European economy (7th largest in the world) into the ground, what’s with right wing obsession with inflation in times of deflationary spirals, and why this prediction seemed to only have been made by liberals.

So my thinking is our laughter has a touch too much nerves.

[last place aversion]: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=occupy-wall-street-psychology “The “Last Place Aversion” Paradox—Scientific American”
[euro ends]: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/this-is-the-way-the-euro-ends-2/ “This is the way the Euro ends—Paul Krugman @ New York Times”
[can europe be saved]: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/magazine/16Europe-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all “Can Europe Be Saved?—New York Times”
[sylvio berlusconi]: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/09/silvio-berlusconi-italy-great-procrastinator