Well, by socialist I certainly don't mean a Robin Hood society, rather a social democracy as you described it. For example, I believe business is as much a social institution as church or school, in that the executives and owners of the business have a moral if not legal responsibility to their workers. This was tacitly understood by the best US businesses in the past (IBM, Anheuser Busch come to mind - I mention the latter because old Gussie Busch always took a personal interest even in the lowest barrel-roller). Now it is common practice to see people as expendable "resources", like paper, steel, etc. - to be purchased at the lowest possible price and discarded when the bottom line is threatened.