I understand that you think socialism is fundamentally flawed, I can tell from your tone. I am attempting to engage you politely despite your previous mischaracterizations of what I have said.
I would like to present some counterexamples. Countries like Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have implemented socialist policies such as universal healthcare, free education, and a strong social safety net, and they’ve seen significant economic growth and social progress as a result.
In addition, the cooperative movement in countries like Spain and Italy has shown that worker-owned cooperatives can be highly successful and provide better working conditions and benefits for employees. And let’s not forget about the Nordic model of socialism, which combines elements of market economics with strong social welfare policies to create a more equitable society.
But even within my own country (US), we’ve seen that periods of prosperity have often coincided with the implementation of social safety nets like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP. These programs have helped to reduce poverty and inequality, and they’ve also contributed to economic growth by putting money in people’s pockets and stimulating demand.
Furthermore, many of the worker protections we take for granted today were implemented after the Great Depression, as a response to the failures of laissez-faire capitalism and the exploitation of workers. The Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and other key laws that safeguard workers’ rights were all enacted during this period.
It seems to me that socialism is not inherently flawed but rather it has been distorted or watered down in some cases, or implemented in ways that don’t prioritize the needs of working-class people.
“The United States effectively has a one-party system, the business party, with two factions, Republicans and Democrats.” -Noam Chomsky