The path taken by USA is to spend, spend, spend, while Europe is trying to save, save and find even more ways to save.
The spend-spend-spend path is easy, with a known consequence - deficit spending and trillions of national debt
On the other hand, save-save-save will be painful, especially with populations that are so used to getting free money from the government without having to work (aka welfare) but countries that tried it turned their economy around (Eg. Germany)
If France is going to break the austerity pact, its future gonna looks gloomy.