Wall Street socialism.

Phillips Slams Wall Street, Feckless Politicians in `Bad Money'

"(...) To hear Kevin Phillips tell it, the U.S. is a world power on the skids, an overstretched empire slumping toward the fate of Hapsburg Spain, the maritime Dutch Republic and imperial Britain. (...)

The book repeats ideas that Phillips has written about before. He again uses the term ``financial mercantilism'' to describe how Washington and Wall Street have collaborated ``to minimize certain unwanted marketplace forces.''

Hence the long, sad history -- from the Latin American debt crisis and the S&L bailout to the subprime mortgage meltdown -- of the U.S. government and Federal Reserve rescuing our failed financial wizards. He gives a name for what happens when taxpayers rescue profligate bankers: ``Wall Street socialism.''