Definitions

By the way, claiming that the Obama administration is "socialist" is stupid.  It is evidence only that you do not know what the word socialism means.

Socialism refers to a system in which the government owns the means of production. In other words, the government owns capital employed in production (factories and office buildings).  There are still property rights for individual property (homes, cars, etc..).

[Communism, by the way, refers to a system in which the government owns *everything*. There are no property rights because there is no such thing as individual property.]

It's unclear what about the Obama administration is supposed to be "socialist".  I suppose that if they have to nationalize banks, that would constitute a socialist situation.

However, it seems like people are confusing higher tax rates on relatively high-income individuals with socialism.  There is nothing about the tax rate that has meaning in socialism.  You can have a low-tax socialist country or a high-tax socialist country.

Regulation is not equal to socialism.  We've been a capitalist country for a long time, and always had regulation of some kind or the other.  Government spending is not equal to socialism.  We've been a capitalist country for a long time, and always had some government spending of some kind or the other.

If you want to argue for less regulation and less government spending - fine.  But don't be an idiot and call the opposite "socialism".