Karl Marx (with a K - thank you) was a philosopher and social theorist. His and Engels theories were purely intellectual and complimentary to Owens practical social experiments. They were both instrumental with Marx observing Owen and others publicizing on the subject. You can argue that Robert Owen came before with his Utopian socialism experiments. Karl Marx analyzed and published on the subject fueling the first conventions on craft and later trade unions in Russia. The difference is that Karl Marx ideas resulted in an initiative by the people against the business owners. Owens ideas were a benevolent utopian initiative on the business owners part. Who is the father of modern unions? The intellectual revolutionary or the benevolent philanthropic? A case can be made for both.

Regardless of the above its time we as a country start realizing that socialism and capitalism are two complementary theories. One cannot succeed without the other. Some things must be state/federally owned and others must be left to operate in the capitalist domain. We as a people need to agree or at least acquiesce to a bias and decide which sector is appropriate for which domain.

That being said global warming is one of those things which cannot be left to the capitalist/free market domain for obvious reasons. Clearly we must be on the lookout for opportunism in politicians on both sides of the fence but for gods sakes don't stick your head in the sand and pretend that there isn't a problem and mans effect on climate change is all made up.