How socialist is the U.S.?

Not very, if one actually bothers to look at real data.  Thomas F. Schaller, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, evaluated economic data, compared it to various nations and concluded that despite programs like Social Security and Medicare, the U.S. doesn't even come close to what would be considered socialist.

...in America, state and federal taxes as a share of the gross domestic product amount to 28 percent. He points out that's among the smallest in the 31 first-world nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Mexico, Turkey, Japan and South Korea pay smaller shares.

According to Gini (coefficient), the more evenly income is distributed, the closer the coefficient is to zero.

America's number, before government taxes and transfers, is 0.46. This is just at the Organization for Economic Cooperation average of 0.45. After taxes and transfers, it drops to 0.38, indicating the redistribution of wealth.

But that 0.38 is the highest of any first-world country, indicating the U.S. is the least redistributive. (Link)

The folks screaming "socialism" fall into one of several groups; there are those that have absolutely no idea what they're talking about and wouldn't recognize "socialism" if it came up and bit them on the nose.  Another group just incorrectly uses the term to describe any liberal program.  And, finally, there's the cynics who use this kind of hyperbole to make political points. 

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