If you're Familiar with NYC and LA it's easy to see the appeal of socialist rhetoric. Both cities have a population of parasitical, extremely wealthy elites in industries like finance and law that utilize a large number of underpaid minorities to service their own needs.
The mistake is twofold. First is thinking that socialism will fix the problem. It doesn't because these people are vicious, and opportunistic; government controlling the means of production just means these people move to government and redirect resources towards themselves. The second problem is projecting that frame onto the rest of the country where the "rich" typically got that way through production and not parasitical behaviors the way the NYC/LA elite does.
The mistake is twofold. First is thinking that socialism will fix the problem. It doesn't because these people are vicious, and opportunistic; government controlling the means of production just means these people move to government and redirect resources towards themselves. The second problem is projecting that frame onto the rest of the country where the "rich" typically got that way through production and not parasitical behaviors the way the NYC/LA elite does.