Do you think Obama believes in Socialism / Do you believe in Socialism?

[AmericanNation]

Jeez...
Various definitions exist, so ignoring everyone but your own doesn't give you the right to call someone stupid for using a slightly different definition. 
according to this list Obama would be a Socialist because he supports government providing every single good/service on the list.  He has personally overseen the implementation/expansion of Healthcare, Food, Hosing, and Energy.  "Clothing" is the only one without a specific program I'm aware of, but government checks obviously are used/justified for clothing purchases. 

[AmericanNation]

Do you think Romney believes in Nazism/Do you believe in Nazism?

Grow up.

you would have to meet most socialist requirements to be a Nazi.  I don't think Romney meets minimum thresholds of basic definitions, so no/no.  I can answer without getting emotionally unhinged.  Why can't you?   

[AmericanNation]

I exaggerate slightly, for effect. But seriously, what president in the last forty years has intervened a heavily in the market economy as Bush did in his final months?

Answer: Barack Obama

But it was George W. Bush who nationalized the banking and automotive sectors. Who's the socialist now?

Bush engineered a program where assets would be bought from the banks and sold off for as much as possible (even a profit).  Obama turned that into buying equity stakes in the banks and regulating them stupidly. 

Obama gave the failing auto companies bailout money (for no reason) as did Bush I believe.  Obama than "bought" the companies while trampling over bankruptcy law, sckewing the bondholders, and giving the UAW a large chunk of the pie. 

So I think your quote would be true if it read like this:   

But it was Barack Obama who nationalized the banking and automotive sectors. Who's the socialist now?

 

[AmericanNation]

In terms of economic ideology, I consider President Obama a neo-mercantilist with some strong capitalist and relatively modest, social democratic influences. The recent interventions in the economy were nationalist and populist, not socialist, in nature - the state becoming involved in the markets to promote the national interest and nudge outcomes of market forces toward desirable ends - in this case in an appeal to "the masses" as opposed to "the elites." Barack, being a social liberalist and therefore not especially authoritarian at heart, is much more moderate in how far he runs with this stuff compared to the leaders of other, more clearly neo-mercantilist nations such as the PRC, Japan, Russia, and South Korea.

As for me, I basically take social liberal values to socialist conclusions, but reject the idea of nationalization of the economy as being tantamount to transferring ownership or even control of the means of production to the workers. The "size" of government has nothing to do with whether an economy is capitalist or socialist. Both models are compatible with many forms of government, ranging from anarchism at one extreme to totalitarianism at the other. It is simply that many people - especially Americans - have for decades been fed propaganda that socialism is an economic system of fear and authoritarian oppression whereas capitalism is one of freedom and democracy, which is a laughably false dichotomy.

The kind of socialism I believe in may be interpreted as democratic or market socialism, a form of welfare capitalism, or as some sort of mixed system. A lot of opinions circulate out there about what is and is not capitalist or socialist, after all, and no amount of deliberation here in this thread is going to build up consensus in bringing all of those opinions into harmony. But what I will say is the most hardcore rightists and leftists on economic matters - purists who refuse to mix models at all - are an extremely small minority indeed. Also, variations of liberalism and socialism are not (and never were) the only major political-economic ideologies competing on the global stage.

Perhaps Obama is triangulating Classical Liberalism --  Anarchocommunism --and-- Socialism

[AmericanNation]

Perhaps Obama is triangulating Classical Liberalism --  Anarchocommunism --and-- Socialism

What is the graph supposed to mean?

It's a basic two axis graph.  "Statists" could also be called individual liberty and "in favor of private property" could be called economic liberty.  The lines are depicting the general development or evolution of these "isms" from one to another over recent (300 years or so) history.  I think it does a perticularly good job of showing classical liberalism's relationship to everything and also how Fascism/Nazism isn't right of center whatsoever it is "right" relative to socialism/communism.  Most people don't understand that relative relationship to each other or have any concept of a useful spectrum, so this is somewhat helpful.       

[AmericanNation]

How anyone could take a chart like that even half seriously is beyond me.

This.

Typically it is correct form to state a reason or make an argument for your opinion, that way you don't look like childish hacks.  Maybe you three could try it, or come back when you're grownups.   

[AmericanNation]

Typically it is correct form to state a reason or make an argument for your opinion, that way you don't look like childish hacks.  Maybe you three could try it, or come back when you're grownups.   

If something is self-evidently idiotic to the extent that that chart happens to be, then there is no point in going to the trouble of pointing out what is wrong with it. This is because the only people who don't already understand that, yes, the chart is clearly the product of a diseased mind, are the sort of people who are generally not worth engaging with in any detail.

I do so hope that things are clear now.

...and yet you wrote 5 lines instead of naming a single thing. Pathetic. 

[AmericanNation]

The point is there's no need to 'name' anything as the 'problems' with that remarkable chart are obvious to anyone with three functioning brain cells and occasional access to logical thought. If you can look at it and not see the 'problems' immediately, then...

You actually understood that mess of a chart?  You clearly are a better man than I. I looked at it, and got a headache, and required "medication" myself. Nothing is so obfuscatory than this ideologically Venn diagram boxing mania. I hate it!

No, no, no. That reaction means that you understood it (at the level at which understanding it matters) as well!

I'm not in love with the thing, but it has some really nice elements.  If Plato had reflected on the last 300 years he would have come up with something like that.  So to use words like "idiotic" and "diseased mind" is really quite remarkable.

[AmericanNation]

The point is there's no need to 'name' anything as the 'problems' with that remarkable chart are obvious to anyone with three functioning brain cells and occasional access to logical thought. If you can look at it and not see the 'problems' immediately, then...

You actually understood that mess of a chart?  You clearly are a better man than I. I looked at it, and got a headache, and required "medication" myself. Nothing is so obfuscatory than this ideologically Venn diagram boxing mania. I hate it!

No, no, no. That reaction means that you understood it (at the level at which understanding it matters) as well!

I'm not in love with the thing, but it has some really nice elements.  If Plato had reflected on the last 300 years he would have come up with something like that.  So to use words like "idiotic" and "diseased mind" is really quite remarkable.

YOU've heard of Plato? That's a funny joke...

"The benefits of a classical education"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7-ma9fX0f4

Seriously though, I probably read half his work by the time I was 15.

[AmericanNation]

No one who likes to actually understand what different ideologies are all about is going to have a modicum of respect for anybody who thinks that charts might be helpful in the endeavour.

Why?  First thing you should do after something complex (600+ page book, an election, troubleshooting a piece of equipment worth hundreds of thousands, etc) is fit all the important information on a single piece of paper.  A map or a chart is a common end result of mastery.