>The socialists governments in Western Europe haven't failed yet. "Yet" is the operative word there. Often socialism is applied, at least at first, in a very

>The socialists governments in Western Europe haven't failed yet. "Yet" is the operative word there. Often socialism is applied, at least at first, in a very limited fashion, but then expand as the natural consequences come to fruition. For example, examine the minimum wage law. The natural consequence of the minimum wage law is the least productive individuals lose their jobs. Most often those individuals are youth and minorities, with the affect especially evident among young minorities. Reacting to this natural consequence, legislatures then want to enact social programs to provide for those who are unemployed. These social programs are funded through higher taxes, typically upon the most wealthy. The wealthy are incentivized to be free from the higher taxes and get around them through a myriad of creative ways. A cycle develops where social programs continue to expand, taxes continue to rise and the wealthy flee. This is very evident in France, currently. When the wealthy flee, the taxes fall onto the middle class. There is incentive for immigrants to come into the country. And so on and so forth. The failures of socialism are most evident where the interventions are taking place. Healthcare is a sector where a lot of the interventions are taking place and the affects are glaring. You can see this in Western Europe with sub-prime healthcare. The problems in the socialist governments in Western Europe will be exasperated by the refugee crisis. A socialist government and a planned economy are only different by a few degrees. Bad laws beget more bad laws and the problems will grow. How long until the parasite overpowers the host? Who knows.