I keep hearing it being thrown around all the time. But isn't socialism taking all the people's wealth and resources and putting it together for something bigger and better for everyone? Couldn't you say we are partly socialist, because isn't that the entire point of taxes?
?
Favorite Answer
Its when individual liberty and rights are subjugated by the state. The state makes the decisions for you.
Anonymous
Income taxes, taxes on socially undesireable goods (e.g. alcohol, tobacco...), social welfare, labor protection laws, medicare, tariffs, anti-monopoly laws, anti-price fixing laws, free education... are hallmarks of Socialism
The point of Socialism is try to reduce wealth gap in the country as much as possible with minimum compromise on personal liberty. That's the definition of Socialism. Some countries succeed at it, some fail at it.
Governments that focus more on the above can be considered as leaning more Socialist, such as Singapore, Australia, Sweden, Japan...
Some countries take Socialism to the extreme and try to achieve Communism, it is a more extreme form of Socialism where more equality is achieved at the expense of liberty, but it is not practical because people are selfish in nature.
A Leftist
Socialism is when the workers own the means of production. It is when democracy is implemented in the workplace, and autogestion, solidarity, & cooperation reigns in the industrial and political sectors. An example of Socialism is a cooperative. Look it up if you don't know.
Nick F
The main concept of socialism is when the means of production is owned by the government or collectively by the workers. However, there are tons of variations. You should read it up on wikipedia.
Anonymous
Its where the government controls the means of production removing grotesque corporate profits and using the savings to help the PEOPLE.