Quote from: Sithara007 on May 03, 2021, 04:02:47 AM

Quote from: Darker45 on May 03, 2021, 02:55:48 AM

How do you define socialism, then? Does that automatically follow that since a country is providing free healthcare, education, and other social services to its people it is already a socialist country? How about the fact that capitalism and democracy is actually very much vibrant in the European countries that you've mentioned like France and Norway? Or is it that both capitalism and socialism could exist side by side in a government?

The essence of socialism is very simple - steal the money from the successful people and distribute a part of it among the poor. Since the poor have a greater voting power, the political party which promises to do this will be elected to power very comfortably. Now the problem with Socialism is that, eventually they run out of money to steal from. Successful people will either migrate to other countries (similar to what happened in Cuba), or they will lose their money and become poor themselves.

That's one rough interpretation which, just like the rest of the other interpretations of socialism, is highly debatable. Taxation, for example, has some socialist underpinnings. It could also be interpreted the way you interpret socialism even if it is implemented in a highly capitalist society. For others taking somewhat extreme positions, they would also consider taxation as a kind of stealing. And taxation is applied everywhere.

The Biden administration's American Families Plan, for example, is seeking to impose heavier taxes on the wealthy. Those rich people who are earning more than a million USD a year, for instance, might see their capital gains tax rising to almost double the rate.

Would you, therefore, consider the USA as a socialist country more than a capitalist one?