| This mentality was made clear in a Gallup poll released this week. It shows that only 54% of Americans still support capitalism. (Capitalism promises you can have whatever you want if you just provide enough other people with what they want.) Over the last few years, there has been a steady erosion in support for free enterprise and a steady increase in support for socialism. Just 42% of Democrats now support capitalism, while 66% favor socialism. Bear in mind, this has nothing to do with Donald Trump or Fox News spin. This is just Gallup telling us what two-thirds of Democrats prefer. Yet never has there been a socialist economy that created freedom and prosperity for its citizens. All were severe economic failures that ended in humanitarian crises. History shows that after a government takes away its citizens' economic freedoms, they generally revolt. Then the government takes away their political freedoms. The result is autocracy... and misery. There are only a handful of true socialist societies left, like Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea. Even China's increase in living standards over the past few decades came about only after market reforms were introduced. (The Communist government calls this "socialism with Chinese characteristics.") Some Democrats will protest that what they actually favor is Scandinavian-style socialism. Yet Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are not socialist, which requires government ownership of the means of production. These are merely capitalist countries with extensive welfare and social programs. And if you look at their history, they built their initial prosperity on capitalism. When they experimented with socialism in the 1980s and 1990s, it led to economic stagnation, capital flight, and a reduced standard of living. As a result, they reintroduced market reforms. Of course, what most American socialists really want is "free stuff." Free health care. Free college education. Free retirement pensions. And, apparently, free bus fares. There is only one problem with this. In the real world, the word "free" just means that someone else is paying for it. "Right, the government is," socialists reply. The catch is that governments don't have any money aside from what they forcibly extract from their citizens. Hence Margaret Thatcher's famous line that, "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." But if socialism is not the answer, what is? What does it take for the average American to realize his or her dreams? That's what we'll discuss in my next column. Good investing, Alex | 
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