England

After the war the British people were looking for change and they dumped Churchill in favor of Atlee who was a socialist. He promised the people good times and he started by instituting the national health care system. The cost of this program quickly surpassed all projections but it was so popular that there was no going back and it remains today. Besides the exorbitant cost the biggest complaint is poor service with long waiting times. Atlee followed this up by nationalizing most of the major industries including steel, railroads, coal and electricity. The idea is that any profits generated will then benefit the country, rather than a wealthy few. Many workers were helped, for example coal mining was made much safer and minors received benefits like sick leaven and paid vacations. This was followed by high inflation peeking at 24% in 1975 and this was accompanied with high unemployment. During this period there were many public employee strikes and late 1975 become known as the winter of discontent. In 1979 Thatcher was elected and began the long process of returning England to capitalism and she succeeded in privatizing all industries except health care. At that time 60% of the worlds population was under the control of either socialist or communist governments but things were changing. During her 11 years as Prime Minister the country recovered and returned to normalcy. Today England is much like the US economy except for health care.