European socialism and the US.

Mona Sharon, who always cuts to the chase, has provided the numbers that demonstrate our true economic condition vis-a-vis the European socialist democracies in this article here.  It should be required reading for every American and should be required memorizing by politicians.  The crucial comparison starts with the numbers provided in an excellent example of enlightening journalism.

There's no "heading" about it. We're there. Prof. John J. DiIulio, writing in "National Affairs", outlined the true size of American government. When state and local government expenditures are added to federal outlays, government spending as a share of GDP easily competes with European nations. In fact, per-capita government spending in the U.S. is higher than in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, and our debt to GDP ratio is higher than most European states.

Many conservatives argue we are heading in the direction of the Euro model.  Obviously we are already there.  Should we fail to reverse this trend what we're likely to see is a handful of states where the economy still works while the rest of the country descends into a no growth quagmire of negative growth, and eventually chaos.  Kinda like what we saw happen to the USSR of its 80-year experiment with socialism.