Barry Ritholtz over at Big Picture had an interesting thought on European Socialism vs. US Socialism.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/05/us-vs-europe-who-is-the-welfare-state/

-Europe has cradle to grave health care plans, generous unemployment benefits, and free or subsidized college costs.

-The US gives away public assets (oil, gas, mineral rights) for pennies on the dollar, has huge subsidies and tax breaks, and bails out reckless speculators.

It turns out that both regions are welfare states — only in Europe, the natural population (i.e., people) is the recipient, while in the US, the corporate population is the beneficiary.