Sounds like a thought Vidal would have, but I tried to find out if he said it, and didn't find any info on that yet.

@AnonySchmoose Just looked - it's in a Wiki entry.
"The phrase may have been first popularized by Michael Harrington's 1962 book The Other America[2][3] in which Harrington cited Charles Abrams,[4] well-known authority on housing.

Andrew Young has been cited for calling the United States system “socialism for the rich and free enterprise for the poor”, and Martin Luther King, Jr. frequently used this wording in his speeches.[5][6] Since at least 1969, Gore Vidal used the expression “free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich” to describe the U.S. economic policies,[7][8] and he used it from the 1980s in his critiques of Reagonomics.[9]"
Close enough.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@AnonySchmoose Actually Vidal was quite a leftie, his run ins with the arch rightard William Buckley are legendary.

@chazwin Vidal had a knowledgeable grasp of how the American system actually is. I remember watching him arguing with William Buckley, when Buckley insulted him violently.

@AnonySchmoose Buckley was definitely a crypto-nazi. He proves it here by trying to prevent Vidal from getting his point out.

@chazwin This bears out what you posted. [newrepublic.com]

Yup! Buzz Words ... Sometimes The Most Negative Things On Earth!

Intriguing! Quotes from Reich in 2016:

“She’s the best-qualified person in the field to be president in our current system, but that’s precisely the problem,” Reich said. “The system we have doesn’t work now. It’s corrupted by big money.”

He said Sanders has “the passion and the authenticity” to take on Wall Street and the elites that control the system.

Does Clinton?

“I frankly don’t know,” Reich said. “And that’s part of her problem with voters. If she is the nominee, the only way to get that Sanders type of enthusiasm is for her to do what Bernie has done — and that’s be part of a movement ... he is channeling a movement that has grown over the years and is gaining force in America.”

[sfchronicle.com] April 10, 2016

@AnonySchmoose you are correct, Reich and I do believe the head of the DNC , what is her name, Dianne Brazzell, did not think she handled any of it correctly and was very mad about it, so Reich did the right thing, she could not or would not, it was a debacle on both sides, Reich is correct, but who can really stand up against so few people having all the money in the world, and they do not want to part with it, and no body can make them obviously, these days not Bernie, no way Biden ( but may be our only choice, good grief, with his voting records!). also CYA is always a good thing, most of us with any sense know this, you always CYA(cover your ass), not to be crude but, that is what it means!

you live in Australia, so what do you know about USA banks or anything, just remember when we catch a cold the rest of the world gets the measles, so what is Australia's banks up to, pray tell us and enlighten we who live here and had to endure it!!!

@aahouck49 Oh, you are privy to contrary information? The American public did not bail out banks like Citibank when they were bankrupt?

@aahouck49 As for a cold you understate the American disease - like smallpox shared with the American First Nations People the American banking greed and stupidity has been as epidemic and a catastrophic event throughout the world as was the great flu pandemic of 1917/18 that reputedly killed 50 million people.