perhaps off-topic with the last argumentation but i feel the urge to add my two satoshis...
imo socialist influences in modern democracy are very healthy and hold a society more "together" depending on the subject.
In some parts privatization simply just makes things worse what can be see by many examples around the world.
(e.g. privatization of water in latin america or the energy sector in US)
Privatization is nearly always followed by aims of turbocapitalism to get the most profit out of something with the lowest investment of money.
As long as there is no serious competition that drives progress and innovations it's for the disadvantage of the people.
Water, Food, Electricity, Education, Health and Housing are basic needs of a society and every imbalance or shortage in its supply will disrupt social cohesion and split the society more and more.
I learned that the hard way with health when I realized after an accident with some serious operations that in a country without national health insurance
I would have payed more than 50000 for my welfare and been in debt easily for the next ten years.
The ongoing discussion in US when Obama introduced national health insurance was totally irrational for me.
Most people that are questioning the benefits of a socialist system must look back in their life if they ever were in a situation where they had to rely on it.
When you hang around with guys from the underclass you suddenly realize how their environment became much worse in the last decade.
At least in my country capitalist outgrowth got more and more extreme which resulted in much more temporary employment, lack of places for children's daycare, expensive housing space,
shrinking minimum wage and the overall degeneration of a lot of services that were originally driven by the state.
Socialism is a passable way to keep some systems balanced in our society.
Besides I think most of us are living a luxurious life comparable to the upperclass in times of the roman empire.
Only difference is that we managed to outsource most of our slavery to third-world-countries.
out of sight, out of mind. but that's another story...