This is NOT Socialism

It’s surprising how often during a discussion about this economic model that I get met with the words “Oh, so it’s socialism”. If the listener is socialism-friendly, they think they know what I’m going to say, and if they’re not socialism-friendly, they’re terrified of appearing a Communist, so in both cases, they stop listening. If you look up Socialism, about the only thing rigidly attributed to it is that the State owns the “means of production” (capital; things like a steel mill). Consider the following comparison of the capitalist, the socialist, and the “profitless free market” point of view, regarding the ownership of the means of production.

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