Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist seeing the rich man and his fine home says, “No man should have so much.” The capitalist seeing the same thing says, “All men should have as much.”~Phelps Adams

It is not only the outlook, but the way that the economy & life itself is viewed. The socialist/progressive has a 'zero sum game' view. For every winner in life, there must be losers. Life is a pie, & the greedy grab big pieces, leaving smaller ones for everyone else to share. So they look to govt to equalize this injustice, & stop the greed.

But, it is a flawed world view. It is based on a 'paycheck' mentality. Every week there is a Collective Paycheck that the nation gets, regardless of productivity. They do not see the correlation between diligent, intelligent work & national productivity. That is why they believe that wages & prices can be fixed. You just redistribute the pie, so that everything is equal, & more fair. It also comes from the 'budget' mentality, that dominates govt, academia, & most big corporations. Your dept has a budget.. a fixed amount to run things with, & are limited by. The idea that the 'budget' is unlimited is foreign to them. Some other department has to take a cut, for you to get a raise. They miss the most basic rule of life: Wealth is made by productive labor.

Wealth is NOT a pie, but a process. It does not come magically to your bank account every week, but it must be CREATED by productive work. That is the ONLY source of real wealth. Printing money does not make anything. It is a diluting, crippling action to an economy. ONLY if & when there is constructive, productive, fruitful labor that results in something useful, necessary, & tangible being created, does a nation prosper & the economy grow. It CANNOT be declared. It cannot be faked. It can only come through intelligent, diligent labor.

Prosperous nations have a few things in common. One of them is a strong work ethic. When the people of a land all labor to produce & create useful, necessary things for human survival, everyone benefits, the economy thrives, & there is plenty. When the people of a land are either unproductive, or have their increase taken by looters, there is little to live on, & the society is poor & subsistent.

What is the basis for this flawed world view?

1. Entitlement.
FDR promoted this concept. Here is an excerpt from his state of the union message in 1944:

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.
As our Nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.
We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men."

His solution? Govt mandates, price fixing, & control. NOT increased productivity, or encouragement of the work ethic, but a message of entitlement. From the same speech:

We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.

This is from his famous 'Economic Bill of Rights' that progressives have drooled over for decades. It reveals the 'zero sum game' world view of the economy & human life in general. He equates Natural Rights.. speech, due process, religion, etc.. with stuff. Food. Housing. Health care. Cell phones. This mindset is what built the entitlement culture, where the necessities of life are not something you have to work for, but are basic rights. The world OWES you this stuff. This is the number one flaw in the progressive world view. From entitlement comes grievance. From entitlement comes the destruction of a work ethic. Work is for fools. Your existence is guaranteed by society, why work at something if you can play & have the same things? From this came the welfare state, & the systematic destruction of the family, the growth of govt & the grievance industry, & massive NON productive & even COUNTER productive influences in society.

For thousands of years, parents have tried to tell their kids, 'The world doesn't owe you a living', to get them to be productive members of the family & society. Here, our social institutions teach & promote the opposite, instilling & indoctrinating young people that they have a right to be supported. The world DOES owe them a living.

2. The Great Fiction.
"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." ~Frederic Bastiat

So then, to further the illusion that the world owes you a living, the big govt worshipers preach the great fiction, that govt can enable you to live off of everybody else. They can redistribute the pie. The govt is the solution. They can fairly divide the weekly paycheck for everyone to share.

But this is again a false premise, based on fantasy & illusion. Govt does not create anything. They do not make jobs, or create wealth. They can only TAKE what the producers create, for useful collective actions: Justice, national defense, regulations.. these are useful actions of govt, & necessary for a prosperous society. They cannot 'grow the economy'. They can kill it, or become an oppressive burden on the producers, but they cannot produce prosperity. Only smart, hard working, industrious citizens can do that. The only thing the govt can do is take what the producers have made, & redistribute it. They create the illusion to the receivers, that THEY own this stuff, & can hand it out benevolently. But that is a lie. They can only TAKE what some hard working producer has made. They can only build dependency with their redistribution, which is what they have done everywhere their fiction is implemented.

America used to have a strong work ethic. Productive work was esteemed, & the citizens worked together to build a nation unparalleled in prosperity for all of human history. The destructive influences have always been there. The Great Fiction is nothing new. Moochers & looters have been around forever. But during the hey day of American prosperity, everybody worked. There were no freeloaders. Moochers were held in contempt. We pooled our resources to participate in 2 massive world wars. The 'Greatest Generation' sacrificed & worked to build a better nation for their descendants. But the notion of entitlement did not go away.. it slowly ate away at our work ethic, & the fantasy of the Great Fiction grew to a religious belief. Govt grew, & continues to grow.. a burden on the working man, & a leech on the wealth of the nation. Dependency has not only grown, it has become an industry.. a massive entitlement system, that discourages productive work, & kills the economy. The only result of this massive dependency is total collapse. Misery, not prosperity, is what they deliver.

Govt is not the solution. It is the problem. Progressive ideology is based on a lie. The world does NOT owe you a living. Govt can NOT enable you to live off of others.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. ~Winston Churchill