I was doing some research for some future postings and I came across a news article from the New York Times dated July 31, 1932.  The author outlines and seems almost disappointed by the fact that Marxism hadn't taken roots in the United States.  The author goes on about how the 5 Year Plan carried out by Stalin was actually not that bad.  In fact, the author says the 5 Year Plan was not only a plan for the economy but:

"...the 5 Year Plan is not so much a program of actual construction and production, although production and construction are two of its most important features, as a process of national discipline and education, both technical and social." [my emphasis in bold]

Furthermore, many of the items the author writes about can actually be paralleled to today's issues - credit crisis, high unemployment, etc.

To tell the truth, if you change some of the names, times, and dates, you could almost hear someone at the current NY Times writing this article, a news report on MSNBC or it being an internal memo at a certain political party's headquarters or a certain politician's home with an address of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.   In fact, the last few sentences of the article discussing change in America almost sounds prophetic to what is going on right now:

 "It goes without saying that the process of readjustment will not be easy or rapid, but, unless I am vastly mistaken, the new ideas which are fermenting in people's minds here will sooner or later bring about not revolution or evolution, not socialism but a modification of capitalism.  And perhaps in the final instance, when the change is completed, it may be found that the Bolsheviki, unwittingly, I might almost say against their will, have contributed in no small measure to the development of American society."

Is history repeating itself?  Read the entire article and you tell me.