Talk:Progressivism
It is not just socialism which is a "political and economic social system" that is the real problem that creates massive debt. It is the spirit of progressivism which leads to socialism and other covetous practices that curse children with debt and blindness.
Capitalism is only an economic system where what you produce with your labor, your sweat, your industry, your pursuit of happiness is yours. It belongs to you in the form of material assets, what is called "capital" something of "present value" like property, or property rights or just weights and measures etc. held by the individual. And you can keep that capital, store it, invest it, or give it away as an individual. Capitalists need to individually establish political and social systems independently funded by contributions, which Americans originally did to create welfare through private donations and contributions to churches, charities, or associations.
Socialism is a product of progressivism. While Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the means of production (capital). Progressivism is a political and social reform movement emphasizing that government intervention (power) can solve societal problems through that power of the State as a "collective". There can ultimately be no private rights like property rights, your labor is not entirely your own but a portion will belong to the collective, the State, which will decide how and when it, what would have been yours, will be distributed.
Socialism is merely the religion of the progressive. They do not take care of the needy or fix the ills and inequities of society through charity, churches, or private associations but depend on the exercising authority of the State which will control the masses, the collective. This will empower the State and weaken the people making them more and more dependent upon the State's ability to exercise authority one over the other. "The masses continue with an appetite for benefits and the habit of receiving them by way of a rule of force and violence. The people, having grown accustomed to feed at the expense of others and to depend for their livelihood on the property of others... institute the rule of violence; and now uniting their forces massacre, banish, and plunder, until they degenerate again into perfect savages and find once more a master and monarch." Polybius 150 year before John the Baptist and Jesus preached the solution. http://preparingyou.com/wiki/Masses