Ron Davies has a good point: the successful socialist economies of Scandinavia are countries that use a sane and moderate capitalism as the basis for an equal society. The difference between the Scandinavian model and others is that they aim for a level wage structure, where few earn hugely more or less than anyone else, and the money made by all is shared out to buy schooling, medical services, infrastructure, etc that all share equally. It works well. They have kept this going for decades now, partly by a psychology where showing off wealth is frowned on. Unfortunately, this sane way of life is currently under threat because of an influx of people from very poor countries; the pressure put on the Scandinavians' stringent morality by the European/American economic crash and a sudden influx of a large number of people who don't share the accepted Scandinavian norms, and who are very poor, typically, is causing a reactive swing to the right there, with anti-immigrant parties gaining traction and other parties going rightwards as a result. Let's hope they can save their egalitarian model, which has worked so well.