[The following entry was first posted on the Huffington Post on April 15, 2008.]

Socialism, we are told, is the naiveté of youth, and a fallacious economics the United States has luckily spurned. The late Seymour Lipset, an well-known academician, penned a book in 2001 entitled It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States.

Alas, nobody ever told the leaders of American finance. Whereas the old style of socialism elected no more than a handful of mayors and congressmen, Washington has now embraced a new variety that could not be more different in its class consciousness and privileged sponsorship.

Over the coming weeks and months, Kevin will be posting here and on various blogs, in conjunction with the publication of his book Bad Money. This post first appeared on the Huffington Post on March 31.

Economic, financial and regulatory issues should dominate politics and government in the United States for the next two or three years, which is important enough. National discourse may also have a new and deserving bogeyman. Franklin D. Roosevelt had Big Business, Ronald Reagan had Big Labor, and my guess is that the new president inaugurated next January will have Big Finance.