However, that isn't technically socialism. It would be socialism if the government controlled a substantial portion of private enterprise. The thing is that those sorts of things don't really work well, and I'm not sure if even a mixed system is really preferable to a straight free market system. After all, nationalized industries are incredibly inefficient and tend not to innovate very well. A government that wants to see revenues as the result of, say, natural resources is really better off letting private companies do it but tax them a bit more than other companies and force the revenue raised from that tax to go to social welfare projects like schools, hospitals, libraries or parks.