Socialism In Other Countries

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/19/opinion/l-socialism-makes-everybody-equally-poor-301292.html
     The issue this article discusses is Socialism, which is relevant to our current study of the different types of economic systems and their characteristics in economics class. Socialism is an extremely complicated type of economic system that includes many variations and doesn't necessarily fall under a single category of economic systems. The basic definition is that socialism is "an economic theory or system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state. It is characterized by production for use rather than profit, by equality of individual wealth, by the absence of competitive economic activity, and, usually, by government determination of investment, prices, and production levels." (Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/socialism) 
     There's no question that these days socialism is a huge topic of often heated debate. The main assertion made in the article I posted is that socialism is bad and would hurt our system of capitalism that has defined this country since its genesis over two hundred years ago. The author is responding to another article, claiming that the other author "does not know what real poverty is." His supporting evidence is a personal account of his life in Russia for 35 years, and the adverse conditions his neighbors lived in. He tells us about a widowed mother of six who lived without a bathroom or running water, couldn't afford shoes for her children or even enough food, and on top of that shared the space with four other tenants. The family did not receive any welfare. Part of Karl Marx's philosophy was that "If you do not work, you do not eat." The author concludes that we have too much socialism in the world and that it makes everyone equally poor, rather than wealthy. 
     This is a powerful statement to make. The problem with socialism is that by trying to redistribute wealth, it can impair a wealthy person's ability to operate a business in a market economy, and a possible consequence is a loss of jobs that we can't always rely on a central government to produce. In a world where it seems as if more and more people demonize the wealthy, I want to remind people of the incredible contributions and developments for society that have come from private money. For example, Thomas Edison's inventions were developed and backed through the support of the Vanderbilt family and financier J.P. Morgan. This is hardly feasible through a socialistic economy that can't even provide welfare for an extremely impoverished like the one mentioned in the article?
     If all of this is true, there is no question in my opinion that socialism would severely hurt everything we stand for regardless of political opinions.