America incorporated socialist elements into the economy to stabilize it and correct its abuses in the 1930s. America reduced those socialist elements in the 1980s. America has paid the price since then in instability and greater economic abuse and inequity (but has achieved the purpose which was to allow accumulation of larger fortunes in the hands of a few rich people).

The mortgage collapse is a consequence of that retreat, and the bailout is happening because we got used to the better economy that a mix of socialism and capitalism provided and don't want to give it up by letting the collapse play out in all its classic-panic ugliness. Which means that we are trying to eat our cake and have it, because if we really want the good outcomes we need to return to the pre-Reagan economic philosophy without compromising. If it becomes more difficult for a few rich people to accumulate mega-fortunes -- cry me a river, frankly.

In short, it is incorrect to say that we became socialist on this date. We became (partially) socialist before any of us were born, and this mess happened because we have, over the last few decades, become less so.