The new populism isn’t necessarily a creature of left-wing petrocrats like Hugo Chavez. It may not be what folks like Lou Dobbs and Mike Huckabee are selling. In fact, it may be just the opposite. It may be that the new populism is the populism of … the investor class. Robert Samuelson was the first to suggest this intriguing historical parallel: “Just as the late-19th-century populists, mostly farmers, wanted the government to provide cheap money and curb the railroads’ power, today’s financial populists think government should somehow guarantee that the economy always expands and stock prices always rise.” The populists wanted easy money. The investor class wants … easy money. But both groups are playing a dangerous game. Here’s Samuelson: