Since this is a great topic for a discussion forum hugely in need of revitalization, I've decided to remake a thread that vox closed (apparently because it was made poorly. something I don't intend to do).


Anyways, if you're here because you're interested about learning more, here's a brief summary of both options and of their relevance in the modern world.

Socialism - A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Hence the term socialism, derived from society. Simplified, it's the control of the economy by the people or state. Everybody runs the companies, and by extension industries, and by further extension entire economy. Keep in mind that every country is to some degree socialist. The market is regulated by the state using antitrust laws and taxed (your income tax is socialist). This money is then put to work in public programs such as transit, healthcare, and the military.

Capitalism - An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.
Capitalism is essentially the idea of the unregulated, or free, market. The idea is that it's a meritocracy (a system where you advanced based upon your merits, or positive traits): the more intelligently you sell or the better you do your job, the more you make.

Read more on both here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

The pros of socialism are generally agreed to be the following: it reduces poverty and income gap, and provides a higher standard of living for the majority of the populace.
The cons are generally the equality itself: individuals aren't allowed to prosper as much as they can/should be able to, and it can also lower the incentive to work or do well. The regulation of the economy means that it typically doesn't grow as well as it otherwise could.
The equivalent pros and cons of capitalism literally are the cons and pros of socialism, as the two systems directly compete.

Alright, I think that's as much introduction as I can reasonably give, what are your thoughts and opinions on socialism/capitalism, advantages/disadvantages of both, and which one or mix of the two is better for a person or the country as a whole?

Edit: What I was really hoping, vox, was that you'd learn to improve the post, not take it out on the guy who went to the effort of writing all of that just because you think his definitions are wrong. Or if you don't want to even do that, you could refrain from launching an all out attack on his post that is intentionally mean and goes out of its way to call the user ignorant.