Ask500

It is primarily the drug war, but supplemented by the welfare state. Prohibition creates a huge amount of profit by limiting supply and increasing risk, while demand remains about the same. This leads to gangs, thugs, guns, and other rackets in the now-criminal drug market.

The consumers go to jail, the retailers go to jail, the suppliers just get involved in transport, crime rings, and weapons.

The welfare state produces retailers and consumers for this market, by trapping the poor in isolated communities, segregated by public housing and public schools, with low morale and no hope for the future...

Economic manipulations prevent prosperity (leave people in poverty). In poverty, disease causes more death.

Economic manipulations also make war more likely: you don't go to war with your trading partners, and when you can't trade to get resources, you invade to get resources.

Economic manipulations probably don't lead to drug addiction ... although they have been known to lead to alcoholism!

But that isn't socialism as originally defined.

actually it could be a lot worse than that. The people who chose "no" might be the smart ones.

ah, but why? it is important to know whether anyone has learned from the past. Give the question a point! :)

man is that sad-- half of Americans (according to this) don't know what kind of government they have.

I will add another question using the term "communism" and see how the results change. I did not use "communism" for this one as many people have strong feelings about past communist governments that might cloud the theoretical question about whether such a system is possible to implement as imagined.

To answer your questions: (1) socialism as defined by socialists - i.e. common ownership of the means of production and (2) Anywhere - is it possible anywhere or is it impossible everywhere?

That depends on your definition of socialism. What we commonly refer to as socialism today is not what Marx and Lenin called socialism. They are "social market economies". Socialism means common ownership of the means of production. This was the term used before Marx and during Marx's time and during Lenin's time and after.

The only difference between socialism and communism according to Marx is that communism is a higher stage, when the people have become enlightened - the "new man" and the state can begin to wither away. Lenin spoke about this a lot.

you should also ask again with "yes and I'm female" and "yes and I'm male" - would be interesting

was that supposed to be sarcastic?