US, Europe must spend, reform to counter fallout from prolonged slump

THIS summer's unrelenting barrage of stories about innocent civilians losing their lives to the senseless violence of a few should provoke deep reflection by governments around the world.

The attacks in Germany, France and the United States are not entirely similar, but they do share common roots. Those roots are anchored to a prolonged period of economic stagnation, and they grow in the widening gaps in well-being within and across nations. To find a way out, governments in Europe and the …