As I recall, Socialism has to do with having a planned economy. Here's a quote on taxation from Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations.

"The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations

Most Americans don't know what democracy or capitalism mean either. If the U.S. were the former it would imply a national election as well as one person one vote. We have neither. If we had capitalism, we would not have the Export Import Bank, all forms of corporate welfare, and certainly not buyouts to reward stupid business practices.

What can you expect from people who don't even know that America includes not only the U.S., but Canada, Mexico, and all of Central and South America as well?

USA, gov, and so forth have bad mouthed ANYTHING thats a change in politics or ideals, since the 1920-30's.
BEFORe that time, there wasnt much of a problem.
The basics of our gov. tends to be, YOU GIVE you GET..
something has changed since the 70's.  And I dont think those in charge KNOW how to deal with it, or have been replaced with GREEDY POS..

the basic ideals of Community, have gone.
The idea that the GOV. should STAY away from the individual has GONE.

Right on Z.  The fact is that one of the only ways our economy will recover is by raising taxes on the rich and cutting back on the # of loopholes greedy corps take advantage of.  Why don't supply-siders understand that our country's budget has to be like the states: no printing up money!  Now that we have - again - and the rich people and wealthy corps benefited mostly, they should pay more than their share of taxes.  THAT's RIGHT!  I like rich people like Bill Maher who say, 'hey, I'll pay more taxes'.  What I can't stand is all my middle - class Republican friends who don't get it.  They say, "hey why should we put a penalty on being rich?"  WTF are you saying??  WE NEED MONEY - THEY HAVE A LOT OF IT - THEY WILL SURVIVE JUST FINE YOU IDIOT.  THEY DID IN THE 90's...REMEMBER THE BUDGET SURPLUS AND A STRONG $?  I didn't think so.  But they remember what Rush was talking about this morning...

 In other words - profits are a private reward but losses are "everyone's problem"?  WAKE UP!

  -- this is a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac situation setup by our wonderful Congress.  Very few other companies work like this unless you spend enough on lobbying that same corrupt and inept Congress.

You can believe that those with "extra" or "too much" or whatever words you decide to us describing "rich" people, should be taxed at much higher rates because they have more to give.  But that is only 1/2 the equation which most of us in the middle-class get wrapped around the axle on.  But the real problem comes with the other 1/2 of that equation.

How to you distribute wealth to the lower income folks?  Simple checks - you don't make much, so the gov't will send you a stipend so your total income is above $30K??  Government programs - like free foods, subsidized lunches and subsidized rent?  What other options are there?

None of these lead to getting people out of poverty, instead, it leads to government dependency.  Even President Clinton realized that welfare (generally speaking) should have a time limit to get people back on their feet and not a way of life.  It sounds great when politicians say "tax the rich and no you!" but we need to press just how that'll be distributed and not simply grow the federal government.

Just how would the U.S., that has unsuccessfully fought the War on Poverty for 44 years, distribute wealth from those that have to those that don't have?   
(I reference Wikipedia's "war on poverty" for my conclusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Poverty_59_to_05.png )

If you want to go that way,
ADD education/training to the lower levels with child care.

ALL the things you mentioned as well as those I added have been reduced to NOTHING or TONS of paper work.
Another point is a LIVING WAGE...30k??  NEVER seen it, I havent even seen 1/2 that(when I was working, 1993').

I would like a few things re-evaluated..
Road repair..IF the STATE can do it cheaper THEY SHOULD DO IT..NOT hire companies..
IF the State can sell FOOD cheaper, LET them compete with the bigger stores..
HIRE those people getting food stamps/subsidies to do the work..