SG,
Better wine....yes. Longer vacations......some do. Better food.....when you add in the shiaty service that is debatable. Higher standard of living.....No. We have one of the highest standards of living in the world. Many live beyond their means to get there but teh standard is higher.
Socialism leads to stagnant economies that have high unemploy rates and no chance/incentives for growth. Hense the youth riots in the streets around many countries. If you punish hard work and reward laziness you will get more laziness. If you tell someone that every time they step up big brother will knock you down they will sooner or later stop stepping up as well.
As much as certain people complain about what we have in this country, we have it pretty good. Take our health care system. It is not free and the insurance comp screw drs as well as pts but if you put it in the hands of govern the standard will go down. The incentives to find new drugs, better materials, and new and better procedures will be gone if there is not money to be made. The best and brightest will not go into it if they cant make a living. People here talk about how great teh coverage is in other countries but when the well off there get sick they come here to get their ops. Why is that?
Capitalism works. Rewarding hard work works. These people who take advantage like the CEO's in recent years should be made examples of. They hurt our country and everyone in it. No buy outs or sweet stock deals....the stockade would be better. But dont demolish the house for one rotten board though.