Faux-cialism

The following is a draft written mostly in April out of disgust. Feel free to criticize, but do keep in mind that it hasn't been revised:


Funny name, eh? Well, unfortunately, most people are scared of a socialism that really isn't what they think it is. What is socialism anyway?
Let me start with a story. I was filming a communication class today, and there was an absolutely *delightful* presentation about economic freedom. The presenter decided to introduce and index that ranks the Economic Freedom of the World, which gives a ranking 1-10 of how free the economy is in a nation. He presented a slide with the top 8 ranked nations. These include: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the US, the UK, and Canada. He asked what these countries had in common, then prodded the simple answers: they're first-world, they're rich, they're not corrupt, etc. He showed the lowest 8: Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Venezuela, Burundi. What was characteristic about these? Of course!, they're poor, they have civil wars, high death rates, etc. He then went on to argue that socialized tendencies in an economy actually hurt the economy. Ridiculous. Look at those top 8 again...Hong Kong: Social Healthcare (albeit hybrid), New Zealand sports a similar hybrid system, Switzerland says ditto not to mention an awesome freaking waste program. Oh yeah, and the UK and Canada? Probably the two best known (to Americans) forms of social healthcare.
Well...that's one public sector. Shall we continue? Or shall we talk about how Great Britain's economy is stronger? You see, the problem with creating such a bulls*** argument is that nobody wants to touch it. It's just gross.
Anyway, so...socialism, what is it?