But what I find most curious about this is that Karl Marx might not necessarily see it this way. Given what we’ve seen in America for the last hundred years or so, he might more aptly suggest that we are in "early-stage communism," simply waiting for a revolutionary event to secure "full communism" as America’s "mode of production."
In The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality (1956), Ludwig von Mises observes that:
When Marx and Engels advocated interventionist measures, they did not mean to suggest a compromise between socialism and capitalism. They considered these measures ‐ incidentally, the same measures which are the essence of the New Deal and Fair Deal policies ‐ as first steps on the way to full communism. They themselves described these measures as "economically insufficient and untenable," and they asked for them only because they "in the course of the movement outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the social order, and are unavoidable as a means of revolutionizing the mode of production."
Marx knew that the struggle between socialism and capitalism was a duel to the death, not a negotiation. An economic system where individuals have fundamental property rights cannot coexist with an economic system which is predicated upon perpetually infringing upon certain individuals’ right to property in order to provide for others. Only one of these systems could practically, morally, and politically exist in the end.
Related: Washington Examiner - Blamer FDR for our healthcare disaster.