"Socialism has the problem that before wealth can be distributed, there has to be wealth created to distribute. As the Scandinavian welfare states have discovered, things work well so long as the population has the old Protestant Ethic that says work is good, idle hands are the devil's workshop, and one ought not take advantage of charity if one does not need it. Over generations this fades, particularly if there is a concerted effort to undermine the religious base of these beliefs, with the result that more and more of the citizenry choose to be recipients of benefits rather than creators of wealth. That process continues and the outcome isn't entirely predictable."
-Jerry Pournelle