Was Jesus a socialist?

I agree with you RJ. Although on these boards, I have found an open-mindedness and willingness to discuss issues that has really surprised me.
Government ownership of the means of production is a complex issue, and for what it's worth the British business community actually begged the 1945 Socialist government to take the railways under public ownership because the private sector did not have the cash to fund the investment that was desperately needed.
Likewise when a number of British banks collapsed recently, the shareholders had to rely on a public bailout to keep them from meltdown.