Socialism is failing in Europe

The Washington Post published this article recently, revealing that things aren't all that rosy across the pond nowadays.  Reporter Edward Cody observes that

From blanket health insurance to long vacations and early retirement, the cozy social benefits that have been a way of life in Western Europe since World War II increasingly appear to be luxuries the continent can no longer afford.

As the saying goes, socialism works fine until you run out of other people's money.  It seems that is exactly what Europeans witness now.  Faced with crumbling revenues, national governments in Europe have been forced to cut back on entitlements, much to the chagrin of millions who over decades had become accustomed to such luxuries as "Scandinavian cradle-to-grave welfare".

Social utopia has never existed and will never exist, and the more people seek to ignore that simple fact, the more problems they create for themselves.

The ideologies of the parties in power seem to make little difference.  Socialist prime ministers in Greece and Spain have been reducing pensions, limiting wage increases, and pushing retirements back.  Conservatives in the UK, faced with similar budgetary realities, have been busy themselves pruning entitlements and raising tuition rates.  Needless to say their constituents aren't happy.  For some time now angry mobs in Greece have been rioting, committing acts of vandalism, arson, and assaulting police officers.  As people in other nations feel squeezed they will express their outrage as well.

Citizens in France have begun shouldering costs of their own medical care.  To ease the burden on the national health care system, people must supplement their government insurance with "private complementary insurance" plans, paid for by the insured, not the government.  Even then some doctors' fees exceed the combined insurance coverage and patients must cover the shortfall.

To make matters worse, the French government is also cutting costs by not replacing some health care agents as they retire or resign.  This delays processing of claims.  To make things worse, the French feds have been closing local claim offices and pawning off their clients to impersonal regional centers.  An insured man named Florian Andre expressed his displeasure to a reporter:

“Now,” he smiled, “you have to be almost dead to get a 100 percent reimbursement.”

Welcome to socialism, Mr. Andre.

Some union organizers are seeing the handwriting on the wall:

The social welfare system no longer plays its role, said Claude Bernard, a union organizer at Renault’s struggling car factory in Sandouville, a suburb of Le Havre in western France. The very system of redistributing wealth through taxes and welfare programs has been called into question.

The U.S. would do well to pay attention.  We remain saddled with our own welfare programs and federal taxes (FICA) that redistribute wealth.

The experience of the French alone is enough for Americans to demand that our own feds keep their mitts off our health care system.  Yes, it has its problems, but NO, I don't want to find myself in Andre's position.  No responsible American parent would either.