You've been fed "American greatness" capitalist agitprop your whole life, you may not even realize it. Socialist countries run by autocrats are poor examples, they're really no different than capitalist countries run the same. There are capitalist countries that have a lower PQL than Venezuela. Furthermore, imperialistic and extractive capitalism has decimated many of these countries and is largely responsible for creating an environment of struggle and failure - look no further than sub-Saharan Africa or central America.

Cuba is actually a very good example of what's possible under socialism. They have a higher literacy rate than America. They have lower infant mortality rates than America. Should we talk about homelessness in America? It exists in Cuba, but it's significantly less than America. They excel in other areas but these three examples are critical to quality of life. Speaking of quality of life, socialist countries generally have better PQL than capitalist ones. Cuba has done exceptionally well while having very few high-value natural resources where the majority of their GDP is commodities, and most notably, they've done well while having the largest superpower in the world right next door who's placed stupid draconian sanctions on them for over half a century.