Quote from piezoe:
In the USA you'll seldom hear someone extoll their own perceived virtues of socialism; yet it is clear to me from the facts, and present day examples we have all around us, that the jury may have already reached a conclusion quite different from yours or Mr. Churchill's. To give Sir Winston his due, however, we can't know exactly what Mr. Churchill's meant by "socialism" in the context of his remark, and it's too late to ask him.
All of the "isms", including corporatism, which, if you like, is a form of capitalism, have virtues and defects, though any virtue in either communism or corporatism isn't that obvious. If we just take the present examples available to us, it seems that the countries that are far more socialist than the US; yet have done a better job of maintaining a competitive, capitalist business environment and avoided becoming mired in U.S style corporate welfare are, if we are to judge by the universal attributes of living standards, health, education, personal freedom, crime and poverty, doing the best overall.
