Ed Morrissey: Socialism and Other People’s Money

"The problem with socialism," Margaret Thatcher famously observed, "is that you eventually run out of other people's money." New data shows that France is on the verge of exhausting this resource – but the US is not far behind.

This week, Michael Arouet published what he calls "probably the scariest chart you'll see today," showing that only one-third of France’s population works in the private sector. “How are they supposed to feed the remaining two-thirds with their taxes?” Arouet wondered.

Well might we wonder, too. The most recent data in the US shows that only 40% of the population works in the private sector. Seven percent work for the government. More than half of the population does not work at all. In fact, the percentage of American adults classified as “not in the labor force” by retirement, disability, or other reasons comes to 37.6% – slightly higher than France.

Arouet highlights the unsustainability of France’s social state as workers dwindle. We need to start talking about that unsustainability in the US as well.

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