Democratic socialism is roads, bridges, public schools, state colleges, police departments, fire stations, and even our military etc. The concept is not the same as what you think of when you hear the word socialism (ie Venezuela, etc). To simplify, people pay into the system via taxation and local, state, and federal government are all supposed to provide something in return. Whether these things are in good working order or not varies from location to location both here and around the world. The concepts are pretty universal though.
Capitalism on its own has its merits, particularly when it comes to innovation and potential, but it requires some checks and balances like anything else. Sustainability is one problem - for profit doesn't care that much about 10 years from now, it wants to make as much money right now as possible. The other is just ethics. You see how private prisons are in such dire shape and it's just because there is profit to be made and corners get cut that should never, ever get cut.
New Zealand is actually a great examples. They went pure ideologically right int he 80s. Business boomed and everything else went bonkers and people suffered. When you've got a bunch of suits in a high rise making decisions based on data, that's just what happens. They have corrected since then and they have a higher minimum wage, public healthcare and education options,etc. All of these other countries have their own issues and are also imperfect. However, as it specifically relates to things like education and and healthcare, most would never trade with us.
What Bernie wants
We all understand that nothing is actually free. The money has to come from somewhere. However, add up all that you already pay in taxes (federal, state, property, sales, etc) and then add in what you pay out of pocket for health insurance (this can get up there - I pay almost 15% of my income for my family's health insurance) and then how much you pay out of pocket (can be several thousand a year if you're doing anything but going to the doctor for well visits) and then add in how much the average person is spending on student loans + interest and you'll realize that our overall tax burden isn't all that different it's just the return on our investment sucks.
Publicly funded college and healthcare are not alien concepts. Most countries that are even remotely in good shape (and even some who are not) provide these services to some degree. Germany even offers completely tuition free higher education to immigrants in an effort to coax in some top talent. Countries that do not provide it completely tuition free DO at least subsidize and/or regulate costs in a variety of different ways. In Australia, just as an example, loans are provided at 0% interest and only have to be paid back if your income is high enough for you to afford it.
Healthcare is similar. We like to pretend we have the best healthcare around but we really don't. We have some of the best doctors and hospitals in the world BUT that's just the few at the top. The very vast majority of care you receive in this country is not any better than you could get in Mexico. Of course, our issues come up when you become very sick. Getting sick in most other countries does not mean you have to beg people for donations or otherwise destroy your credit and file for bankruptcy. I work in mortgage and I see this all the time where a person has an excellent credit history and then you'll see a few year period where they're piled up with medical collections and then a BK.
There are a million reasons that healthcare is so expensive in this country but one way to resolve this to a degree is to provide a public option, which Bernie specifically wants regulated through state governments via Medicare. No, it's not free. But I'd still rather pay into that system than play this game of "what am I actually covered for" and "how much more is it going to be next year" that I currently play with private health insurance. Again, this does not eliminate private health insurance. This does not mean that doctors have to accept this insurance either.
The ability to choose here is vital because it is what separates what democratic socialism means to liberals vs what conservatives seem to think it means. The fact that I support these policies does not mean that I think they will fix all of our problems. There is more nuance to it than that. It does not mean that I don't understand free market principles or that I think they should all be scrapped. I understand them, I just don't personally think they're as effective all on their own. That should really be the conversations we're having. With some exceptions, liberals and conservatives have a similar end game. We want to prosper and thrive. How we choose to get there is where we differ but there IS some middle ground if we choose to discuss options in an open minded way.
Maximum Wage
Most liberals do not want to see a maximum wage. Most liberals do not hate rich people. Most liberals do not want a person's ability to rise above our station to go away. I expect my boss to make more than me. I expect his boss to make more than him. I expect her boss, who is the owner and CEO, to make substantially more than the rest of the company. But again, our current system allows for people to take advantage in ways that are both unethical and bad for our overall economy. There are companies who do the right thing - Costco Vs Sams is a great example. Treating your employees well is not impossible and it would certainly be far better if they chose to do so without any government interference. Nobody wants that for no reason. The problem is that many companies are not and we've essentially crippled the vast majority of labor protections that we have so that the average person is no longer able to advocate for more.
Now, our economy literally thrives on spending. We need people to have cash in hand and we need them to be out purchasing goods and services and homes. One million people with $1 is far more beneficial to our overall economy than 1 person with $1M if that person is just going to put most of it in his or her bank. Right now, wealth is being hoarded and the gap between what we consider to be middle class vs wealthy is enormous and only getting bigger. Trickle down economics is a great concept but it only works if people choose to trickle down and they are NOT doing that. When Obama says something about people making too much money, he's just saying that at some point you can stop scrooge mcduck-ing your billions of dollars and start reinvesting in your workforce and your country.
There IS such a thing as a maximum wage ratio which essentially says the top person in a company cannot make x amount more than the lowest person in the company but that's not even anything that's being seriously discussed by any leaders of the democratic party. That is how it works in Switzerland though and they seem to be doing OK. Right now, liberals are asking for a nationwide increase in minimum wage. Congress gets cost of living increases int heir pay. Social security increases annually based on cost of living too. Pensions increase annually. Spending on basically everything else increases. It isn't absurd to say that minimum wage should too.
The fact that wages have not kept up for inflation and cost of living IS a problem. It means that a person's ability to get ahead is constantly decreasing and their odds are lower than they were a year ago and even lower than they were 10 years ago. If we are going to pride ourselves on any person's ability to achieve, we shouldn't be crippling everyone at the bottom. Yes, your rare person will make it through and it makes a good story when some 16 year old kid works two jobs and graduates with honors. It's better for us if more people are able to make it through and it doesn't have to be a miracle for poor kids to escape their situation. I personally do not think a minimum wage increase is the perfect solution but there aren't a ton of better ideas and I can't even have a conversation with most conservatives about what other ideas they DO have because I just get called an entitled brat who hates business and rich people even for questioning it.
there's more I can write up but I'll see if you can get through my blocks of text first :D
