Socialism - the plague that keeps on killing. They'll keep trying it until they kill everyone. I remember when hipsters were praising Chavez's miracle. Where's Sean Penn now? Disgusting.
I can only think of counterexamples. Though triggered by speculation, after the first few months, the Great Depression was sustained by increased tariffs and the government crowding the private market. The 2008 recession was caused by the government meddling in loans.
And on the other side...communism has failure after failure: China, USSR, North Korea. Socialism too, ranging from mild (rampant unemployment in France and Spain) to severe (Greece's finances, or the reoccurring South American crises).
What spectacular failures were you thinking of?
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/01/greek-disaster-is-all-about-s...
In fact, up until the debt crisis, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) was Greece's largest political party. Naturally, it has fallen out of favor since then.