You joke about socialism, but that joke has become a widely adopted mantra and that mantra is causing misunderstanding in people that choose not to think for themselves more deeply.

Socialism is not bad, most good governments require socialism. If you want the state to be responsible for building schools, hospitals, road, recreational parks, housing for the poor and financial support for the poor.

Socialism, just like capitalism or communism in extreme forms is unhealthy. But in balance in all things is beneficial to society.

America is an extreme form of capitalism and has worked very well as a method of creating great wealth up to a point. The UK was a great empire based on capitalist aims with social responsibility. We conquered the world very brutally, but once conquered provided beneficial social responsibilities for those countries by offering them local democracy, building huge amounts of infrastructure and social care.

Even monarch ruled states such as the UAE has great social care, albeit un-democratic. The ruling family provide most of the countries infrastructure and services. While they remain benevolent this works extremely well. If they become malevolent, this is when rulers become dictators and suppress their population.

Like most things in life, balance is important, most systems of rule work OK, some better than others. But extreme iterations of these systems causes problems. It is easier for communism and socialism to become unchecked and become extreme. It is harder for capitalist societies to become extreme, but this is what is happening currently in the west.