By a vote of 323 to 302 the British parliament voted to increase student fees from £3,290 to £9,000. The vote was an acknowledgment of reality. Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister and ardent socialist, branded opponents of the plan “dreamers,” claiming that he has to deal with “the way the world is.”

In reaction to fee hikes, British students waged a violent protest, physically attacking the Royal Family, destroying private and government property, and asaulting police officers. The following pictures of the riots are from the UK Daily Mail:

Meanwhile, in France workers conducted a violent strike because the government dared to raise the retirement age by two years – from 60 to 62.

In Greece, civil servants and students joined forces to riot over new austerity measures put in place after the deadbeat country was bailed out. In the mêlée at least three people were killed.

This is the end of the socialist path. Margaret Thatcher used to say “the trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Europe has run out of other people’s money. Countries that have enjoyed grandiose welfare states are insolvent. The Iberian peninsula is next on the chopping block, with both Spain and Portugal poised to go bust.

The trouble is, generations (at least 2) of people have become dependent on the welfare state. They trust that the government will be there to take care of them. They have been raised to believe that the insidious rich, defined as anyone that makes more than you, will be cut down to size in the interest of “fairness.” With more people retiring, and fewer young people to pick up the slack, welfare programs have become insolvent.

The problem of insolvency, and of a dependent class, is not unique to Europe. California and Illinois face $25 billion and $15 billion deficits. In fact, Illinois’ credit rating is weaker than that of Iceland (which went bankrupt in 2008) and only slightly higher than that of Iraq. New York, New Jersey, Michigan and other heavily Democratic states are in similarly tenuous positions.

Of course, there is also the federal government, running enormous deficits, and unable to fund entitlements like: Social Security, Medicare, Medicade, Obamacare and so on. People have put money and trust in a government that has squandered both.

The issue is, what can be cut? Politicians do not like taking away entitlements. While it may be necessary, there will always be class warriors who promise that the ‘rich,’ or “economic royalists” will have to take on their “fair share” of the cost of government. “Fair share” invariably translates to the entire cost.

With nearly half of all people on the receiving end of the government dole, the case for limited government can be difficult to make. What interest does someone who is a net beneficiary have in reducing the size of the state? That is the situation in Europe. If class warrior Obama has his way, that will be the case in the united States and the results will be equally as miserable.

You reap what you sow.