Adam, you know as much about socialism as I know about string theory. I only took high school physics, so I'm sure you can guess how little that is.

A welfare state =/= socialism. Socialism is not about a large government. It is not about government intervention in the market. It's not about the government influencing the business cycle. It is not about large government spending. Simply put, it is the working class taking control of the means of production, all land and capital.

Notice that the 'socialist' parties in Spain and Greece are trying to push the austerity measures. And also notice that after these measures were implemented, unemployment has skyrocketed.

I didn't use caps nor did I curse at you. But as Largeham noted, arguing with Objectivists is hopeless. You misuse and abuse terms even while your ideology insists on "objectivity".
You have no idea what socialism is, it's just an epithet you throw around that is a catch-all term for any government doing anything whatsoever. As an actual socialist, I grew tired of your distortion of this term a long time ago. You would not countenance such misinformation about your own ideology, why you continue to abuse socialism in this way I don't know. Stop it.

By Webster's definition, socialism is the stage between capitalism and communism. When I criticize socialism, I criticize the way it has always ended up. Since it is based on everyone throwing their share into a pot, everyone is supposed to get the same out. There are not supposed to be differences in earnings, and there are not even supposed to be earnings because there is supposed to be no private property. The pilgrims tried socialism here in America, where everyone threw everything they had made into the "pot" and distributed it equally. It failed miserably. William Bradford wrote how they had to give up the "investors plan" to survive. Also, we have the great example of Russia and the Soviet Union. When they implemented socialism, they were too readily converted to communism and a dictatorship. Please, give me one example how socailism has worked, and I will be enlightnened...

Yes Putin, you did curse (at me):
"How much did the bosses pay you to write that vomit? You really think corporations don't kill people who get in their way? What planet do you live on? The aspiring bourgeoisie has no shame in the level of *** kissing they'll do for the rich and powerful. Pathetic."