I think the main problem here is one which seems to be prevalent in the USA in particular. And I mean prevalent among REASONABLE people as well as the mindless shit-throwers. In the USA, I have noted, the majority of the folks don't seem to have the vaguest clue what it means to be "socialist". They are conditioned not only to spit venom at the mention of "Socialist", but also "Marxist" and "Communist". In ANY creed there is scope for those miscreants who would manipulate the current laws in furtherance of their own agendas. Nobody in North America, surely, has missed the recent spate of actions against just such skulduggery---and not furth of the borders of the USA! And those actions were made necessary because of some who saw a self-enhancing opportunity in the jungles of hardly-fettered capitalism. I never have been a political animal. And reading "between lines", I see like-minded contributers to this site. My role in civic society is guided by what I see as the MORALLy correct path. At least as much as the fair share of human frailties I'm 'cumbered with will allow. If someone points a finger and cries "socialist"!, then so be it. I have never been a member of any other party other than the Nationalist Party in my own Country, and that embraces all political colours.
If I see a human being in distress---even as a result of his own inadequacies---I hope I will always have the grace to stop, and try to help. I shall be rewarded by the improvement in their fortunes, or saddened by my own failure. But I will have a clear conscience. Is this "socialism", Martin?