We're All Socialists Now

So says the latest issue of a Newsweek, a magazine that, in light of its recent financial difficulties, might be angling for a European-style journalism subsidy from our new overlords. And while correct to point out that the previous administration "enacted the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years: prescription drugs for the elderly " and "effectively nationalized the banking and mortgage industries," Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas, the authors of the accompanying editorial, don't seem particularly bothered by this because, they write, the "answer may indeed be more government." We are in such a bad economic rut that only our ever-competent government can cure what ails us:

"In the short run, since neither consumers nor business is likely to do it, the government will have to stimulate the economy. And in the long run, an aging population and global warming and higher energy costs will demand more government taxing and spending."

There is, perhaps, a bit of familial triumphalism in all of this. Thomas, the story's co-author, is the great-grandson of six-time Socialist Party candidate for president Norman Thomas.