We have a different form of redistribution, a non-socialist one, a crappy one that does not actually help citizens.
When capitalists screw up, as in the economic crash of the late 2000s, it is acceptable to give them huge sums of capital in a wealth transfer because they more or less hold the economy hostage. On the other hand, when capitalists succeed, our government works to ensure that their gains are as unaffected by taxation and regulation as possible. If they fail they win, if they win they win.
We engage in huge, expensive, idiotic wars where the government pays out enormous sums of money to defense contractors. Lobbyists get laws made and passed that alter the rules of credit and lending (think credit card terms, student loan terms, etc) in the interest of capital. People who approve and expedite those processes on the government side move on to cushy jobs at those financial institutions/gov't contractors/etc.
Sometimes, for these reasons (and for reasons like the one you raise), people say that the US economy is not really a capitalist one, and thus the US can not be brought to bear on critiques of capitalism. This is the same as socialists arguing that USSR was not really socialist because its behavior does not match up to a doctrine written in a book.
When capitalists screw up, as in the economic crash of the late 2000s, it is acceptable to give them huge sums of capital in a wealth transfer because they more or less hold the economy hostage. On the other hand, when capitalists succeed, our government works to ensure that their gains are as unaffected by taxation and regulation as possible. If they fail they win, if they win they win.
We engage in huge, expensive, idiotic wars where the government pays out enormous sums of money to defense contractors. Lobbyists get laws made and passed that alter the rules of credit and lending (think credit card terms, student loan terms, etc) in the interest of capital. People who approve and expedite those processes on the government side move on to cushy jobs at those financial institutions/gov't contractors/etc.
Sometimes, for these reasons (and for reasons like the one you raise), people say that the US economy is not really a capitalist one, and thus the US can not be brought to bear on critiques of capitalism. This is the same as socialists arguing that USSR was not really socialist because its behavior does not match up to a doctrine written in a book.