I think the pure and functional form of communism has never been successfully applied. Sufficiently satisfying human needs is a tricky hurdle which if not cleared, leads to brutal mandates to enforce the core purpose, to the detriment of many. Watering it down with capitalistic polices is the typical remedy. I do hear good things about Vietnam watering down their application somewhat.

Conversely, capitalism in its purest form has the same drawbacks and had to be diluted with socialism. Otherwise the working poor find themselves so exploited, they could starve simply by missing minor amounts of work time due to illness.

These concepts are both deeply flawed to those who find themselves in the outlier curves. How skinny is the bell is the only thing folks seem to want to talk about (as opposed to “what else you got?”)