Every time I've met friends from China in my three years in Europe, I've been asked: "How did such a beautiful place get into such debt?"

This is usually followed up with: "Is EU getting weak?"

My answer is always a big fat "no". The difficulties the European Union is experiencing are simply growing pains as it works to rebalance consumption and production and re-sharpen its competitive edge. If you stay long enough in Europe, you'll easily figure this out.