LESS SERIOUS THAN EUROPE:

Europe budget cutters outpace U.S. (Patrice Hill, 6/24/10, Washington Times)

U.S. political leaders like to talk about cutting budget deficits even while they are adding to them.

But European leaders from Britain to Greece, under the gun of a withering financial crisis, are actually proposing and carrying out drastic and unprecedented cuts in everything from hallowed state pension programs to green-energy projects, provoking the kind of public backlash that inspires fear in U.S. politicians.

The sharp contrast between talk and action on the two sides of the Atlantic has become a source of growing friction as world leaders meet in Canada to hash out plans for dealing with the economic problems left in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.