Quote Originally Posted by Oneironaut
.... but she is certainly not a socialist who advocates direct control over the means of production by the proletariat....
i think you'll find that a socialist society is one where the state controls the means of production. the term you're looking for is communist. there are problems with both of these economic systems.

socialism requires a truly benevolent political system to operate under. with that much power in the hands of the state, the possibilities for abuse are far too great to entrust it to a chosen few. the coupling of a truly representative democracy with socialism should yield the optimal results, but that experiment has never been tried.

the major stumbling block for communism is size. on a small scale it gives everyone a say in how best to use the resources at hand and the equitable division of profit (yes, there is always profit of one sort or another in any system) is easily achieved. on larger scales communism become an unwieldy behemoth where a consensus can never be achieved. once again, this experiment has never been tried so this is merely a semi-educated opinion.

size seems to be the major problem with any system, economic or political. once the population hits a certain number there are just too many variables to oversee and the temptations of corruption become overwhelming.
delusionsofNORMALity Reviewed by delusionsofNORMALity on . Hillary: Authoritarian Socialist The New York senator told the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting: "The oil companies reported the highest profits in the history of the world. I want to take those profits and I want to put them in an alternative energy fund." Take? Isn't that confiscation of private property? Author P.J. O'Rourke framed it perfectly on a recent CNBC's "Kudlow & Co.": She's "Hugo Chavez in a pants suit." Taxing profits taxes people - Commentary - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper Rating: 5