> In the absence of further specification 99% of people today understand the
> word "socialism" to refer to a planned economy...
>
I think you're assuming that people have a far more concrete idea of socialism than they actually do. For far more than 1% of Americans, at least, socialism is any public expenditures they don't like.
I once was arguing with a guy who defined socialism (which he considered a very bad thing) as "government redistribution of wealth." I pointed out that by this definition, every society to ever exist has been socialist. He nodded eagerly - he had no qualms about what the logical conclusions of his beliefs were.