Speaking of socialism: our French neighbors rented out their house in France before moving to Canada. Recently they discovered that the renters (who have been giving them problems since the start) have simply stopped paying the rent; however, due to the various tenant laws in France it will be nearly impossible to evict them. From what I understand, tenants have 6 months after they receive the landlord’s notice of eviction to actually vacate (enough time to find a new home). If you’re a tenant, you can go a long way to avoid receiving that notice (ie: don’t sign for the registered letter). You can’t evict a family in the winter, because it’s bad for the children. Et cetera.

From what I’ve heard, France seems to be one of the most socialist countries in the world. I’ll define “socialist” here as “enacting laws to enforce social goals”. I’ll differentiate it from communism and claim that the latter takes the concept of social direction further, but the goal is to downplay individualism (socialism, in turn, is designed to protect all individuals). Countries like China and Cuba obviously have stricter controls over their people than France, but in my opinion they’re beyond the socialist scale.

Of course, “enacting laws to enforce social goals” sounds like a noble goal. The whole idea sprung from the problems associated that arose during the laissez-faire periods. The problem with heavy social engineering is the same one that occurs when trying to direct any complex system: unintended consequences. One human brain isn’t capable enough to understand multiple human brains plus all the complexity of the physical world, and so cannot predict the future precisely nor make effective plans to manage them.

On the other hand, I don’t think that total libertarianism is a viable strategy either… but I’ll save that for another post.