James C. Reeves
You can call it what you wish, but the textbook definition of "socialism" is a system in which the government owns all means of economic production.
Under this definition, there are very few truly socialist nations left. Which is a good thing. It's a bad system, in toto.
As is capitalism -- in its pure form, which hasn't been practiced in America since the dawn of the 20th century.
The question is, how much socialism shoud be blended with capitalism in order to produce a society and political economy that offers the best quality of life for all of its citizens.
Reasonable and intelligent people can disagree over where the right balance is to be struck, but based upon my experiences, I would say that the EU nations are closer to the optimal mark than America is - though they haven't hit it exactly. I think we need to take more from socialism than they need to add from capitalism.
Europe needs to better integrate free market mechanisms into its economies, largely by reducing the cumbersome regulations concerning employment; America needs to move away from the cult of the individual toward a more mature understanding of community and collective responsibility. We could also do well by embracing the European celebration of aesthetics over function (though not at the expense of the latter) and their commitment to leisure time.
