***OT***Pick your countries and your parameters. I don't think it is a no-brainer.
Try the big 4...Germany, UK, France, Italy...of course if you want to see socialism at its best (i.e. worst) take a look at any of the Scandinavian countries. Ireland has been a notable exception as have several members of the former East Block like Hungary, Czech Republic, etc. Look at growth in productivity, unemployment, etc. Big government has not worked except as a very effective disincentive. Of course it would be nice to have universal free health care, fat social security programs, 6 week annual vacations, many more holidays, etc, etc...but there is a price to be paid which is called competitiveness. That is why unemployment has been in the double digits for years in Europe...and it's also why they are attempting to decentralize, deregulate, and spin off very inefficient government subsidized industries such as telecom, transportation, etc. Of course their labor unions are not about to let that happen and high unemployment is the result. |
