Until the U.S. economy fell to pieces last fall, the phrase "nationalize the banks" usually conjured up, in the popular imagination, scenes of the early days of a revolution in some far-off land (if it conjured up anything at all). Government takeovers of entire financial systems were something newspapers buried deep inside the foreign news section for the truly diligent readers, complete with sad little photos of mobs gathering outside banks to get their last withdrawals.

Which is why you may feel a little disoriented if you've turned on a TV or flipped through conservative opinion columns lately.