More redistributive tax-transfer systems also tend to be more effective as a backstop to widening earnings gaps. As shown in Table 1, redistribution in the United States offset only 9% of the increase in the market-income Gini between the early 1980s and the mid-2000s, while the ratio was about 24% in the United Kingdom and as much as 50% in West Germany and Sweden. The United States, as well as Anglo-Saxon and Southern EU countries continue to face the most daunting budgetary challenges, while public finances in Continental, Nordic and Eastern EU countries -while also strained - are in better shape. Redistribution strategies based on government transfers alone are unlikely to be either effective or financially sustainable.