The Curse of Economic Nationalism . . . .

[redcliffsw]

The massive welfare state is merely used to buy enough votes to maintain the "legitimacy" of the system.

Like Soviet socialism, this system is grounded on a particular ideology or collection of superstitions about the evils of private, competitive markets and the supposed benevolence and necessity of state intervention.

http://academy.mises.org/courses/economic_nationalism/