What would YOU do if YOU were in charge!!!

[Big Papa Goat]

1. I want to bring back the Soviet Union

I don't think I remember anything from Carni's post about nationalization of any businesses, let alone entire industries. I don't know if you were just being sarcastic, or exaggerating, or just being a little pischer, but you do it a lot.
But your not alone. There are a lot of conservatives out there that don't seem to understand the difference between a welfare state, a socialist state and a communist state. What Carni described was basically a welfare state, where people are taken care of, and taxation on the wealthy is on the high side, but the means of production are still in the hands of private individuals. Sure he cuts out some freedoms, but that is more of a dictatorial thing than a communist thing.

Now that we've got that out of the way, pay attention while I describe to you what a socialist government, or more precisely, a democratic socialist government does. They nationalize, partially or completly certain industries, and often become more or less involved in the running of other industries through regulation or in some cases government-corporate cooperation. These governements also typically have higher taxes than a welfare state, and restrict economic freedoms of entrepeneurs and businessmen, but increase some of the rights of workers through pro-union policies, progressive taxation and by welfare state like policies.

A communist government nationalizes almost all of a countries industries, and allows only the slightest amount of private business. Communist governments are totalitarian, and as such, political freedoms are severely hampered. Most of the time, and vividly illustrated in the Soviet Union, communist economies are inefficient and plagued by worker and management apathy.

I hope you enjoyed my short discourse on left wing political systems, and I hope you found it informative. PS if I got anything drastically wrong, which I may have, please correct me.