In the view of many Americans our universal health care system makes us socialist. However we run one of the most privatised school systems in the OECD, far in excess of the US rates.

We had a pretty good mix of socialism and capitalism but there is little doubts successive conservative governments have dramatically eroded the socialist legacy which had made this country one of the standouts.

Dear Steele,

That's why they need to be kicked out!

Surfing the Web today made it clear that Australia is capitalist with a severe twist of greed.
Looking at a number of electronics & cameras @ accessories, I almost toppled off my chair.
A $1000 item in NZ is $2000 in Aust. Go up two two or more grand & literally every item is double the cost here in comparison to NZ & USA/Europe.
WHO is responsible for this rip-off ? Govt taxes or importers ? A shop in Sydney advertised a filter set for almost $400 yet the US distributor has it advertised for $120.
Several months back I enquired for a Chinese made small Diesel engine which was advertised for $698 & when I asked as to how it would be dispatched to me I was told this would be via a courier at a cost $1420.
Am going stupid or are business practices here completely off the rails ? Same for small engineering jobs etc. A cup of coffee $8, a beer $7 & so on. These prices are not Govt, they're Union !

Bloody ridiculous Indy,

The only people who can afford those prices are Gina Rhinoceros and the Aged Welfare mob like you. 7 bucks for a beer, Jesus, you must be limiting yourself to 10 schooners a day, and a 100 bucks in the pokies! Times are tough for the Aged Welfare Mob......and poor GINA.

Nice to see you are out there drinking $8 coffees and $7 beers on us taxpayers. What I would give for a cup of instant or a sip of XXXX if only I could afford it. Such luxury a taxpayer like me can only dream of. How often I look through the windows down at God's Waiting Room, nose pressed up against the glass, watching the Old Farts, knocking back schooners, having a nosh up on taxpayer funded steak dinners, playing the pokies, winning all the chooks in the raffle, carrying off all the bingo prizes, playing the pokies. "Lest we forget".

the socialist legacy which had made this country one of the standouts.
SteeleRedux,
It's the legacy of Labor we're going through now. Considering the perpetual sabotage by Labor et al, the Coalition has managed rather well.

"Socialism considers the individual person simply as an element, a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socio-economic mechanism. Socialism likewise maintains that the good of the individual can be realized without reference to his free choice, to the unique and exclusive responsibility which he exercises in the face of good or evil. Man is thus reduced to a series of social relationships, and the concept of the person as the autonomous subject of moral decision disappears...."

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7282496-the-fundamental-error-of-socialism-is-anthropological-in-nature-socialism

John Paul II

No we aren't a socialist country.... yet.