WHERE SOCIALISM WORKED:

Revealed: state's grip on Scotland (EDDIE BARNES, 10/09/05, The Scotsman)

THE astonishing extent to which state spending is propping up Scotland's economy is laid bare in new figures which suggest the ballooning public sector is strangling wealth creation.

The findings show that in some areas, three-quarters of the local economy is made up solely of the billions of pounds pumped in by the government.

Such is the size of the public sector in these areas, business chiefs and economists fear it is swallowing up private enterprise, hoovering up talented workers and making it nearly impossible for companies to prosper.

The findings shed fresh light on Scotland's chronic dependency culture - in which the economy is becoming increasingly reliant upon state handouts to provide wages for the ever rising army of public sector workers.

Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries (Katrina Tweedie, 9/19/05, Times of London)

A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.

England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest. [...]

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

The attacks have been fuelled by a “booze and blades” culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years.

That is, of course, the Left's goal, to completely atomize the citizenry and make each completely dependent on the state. The breakdown of society is not just a side effect but a necessary step.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 9, 2005 9:28 AM