I think you need to clarify what you mean when you reference countries as being "socialist." The Scandinavian countries may be referred to as "socialist," but that does not mean they have a socialist economic system. They have capitalism...in most ways exactly like the capitalism we have here. The difference is that they still have a social safety net just as we had in this country during the 1950s. There is a reason those were "Happy Days." 

We gave up a lot of that social safety net because the wealthy wanted to reduce their taxes. The rich (and the politicians they "rent") always talk about providing a social safety net for the poor as being "socialist" or "communist" as a way to demonize things like quality public hospitals, unemployment insurance, aid to dependent children, disability insurance, etc... Now we have the largest gap between the living standards of the rich and the poor of any industrialized western country.