European socialism under pressure

I have a statistic that you can throw out the next time one of your bleeding-heart, compassion fascists friends starts whining about how unfair it is that the United States wouldn't follow the model of the the European social-welfare state. As of today, the public debt of the French government exceeds 1.3 trillion dollars. To put that in perspective, the ratio to GDP is now 65.6%! No country can possibly assure long term fiscal health while maintaining this level of debt which is, of course, largely the effects of generous social welfare and health care benefits. On a related note, German unemployment now stands at 12.6% or about twice the US level. My question is this: Is it really compassionate to undermine wealth creation and self-sufficiency in order for politicians to implement feel good programs that garner public support, but undermine the long term fiscal health of their nations? Are the French or the Germans better off then they would be under a more limited government? It is nice to be able to go to a clinic and receive health care, but is it a substitute for a job, stable investments and hope?