The Myth Of European Socialism

Socialism is such a patently inferior economic system that highlighting the superiority of capitalism by comparing it with socialism may seem like a pointless, rigged exercise. But capitalism and socialism are, in fact, the two main alternative systems of producing goods and services. Moreover, communism is simply socialism plus political dictatorship, secret police and forced labor camps. There is a widespread but misguided tendency to view the rich economies of Western Europe — e.g. Germany, France, and Italy — as examples of an intermediate third way, somewhere between capitalism and socialism. The defining feature of these economies is a visibly lower level of inequality than America. Some names for this supposed alternative economic system are “mixed economy” and “social democracy”. This is utter hogwash. There is nothing mixed or socialist about European economies. What creates wealth and jobs in Europe is, as in America, a dynamic and efficient private sector — in other words, capitalism. To be sure, government control of industries, for example health care, is greater in Europe than in America, but government-owned industries are not the main creators of wealth…