Really? Because in socialist countries like Germany, France, Denmark, Finland, and many others, people can afford access to a lot more social services than most Americans. They have higher standards of living in every measurable way. Every home has clean, safe water; electricity; heat; and internet access — something that is most definitely not the case for far too many American households. And no one has to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills.

I don’t see how you can say that provision of common services isn’t a problem when thousands of Americans live in the kind of poverty we usually associate with third-world countries, where the water is so polluted by — of course — big business that it isn’t safe to drink. Where millions die of preventable diseases because they can’t afford health care, where maternal mortality rates rival those of third-world countries. Where millions of Americans are homeless or sleeping in their cars — many of whom *have jobs.* When for the majority of Americans, an unexpected expense of less than $1,000 would financially ruin them. When millions of Americans are euphemistically called “food insecure,” meaning they don’t know if they can afford to pay their bills *and* buy food.

On literally every single metric of human life and dignity, capitalism has failed miserably. We need a government and an economy that puts human needs — NOT profits — as its top priority. If calling that “socialism” scares you, then fine, call it something else. But what we have now is a complete failure, and we can’t continue with it.