NEW YORK – It takes a mad man or a genius to trace the evolution of economics through Romantic literature.

That is the task that made Doug Henwood, 53, the publisher of two wildly different business journals, passionate about explaining economics to two contrasting audiences: hard-core anti-capitalists and serious bond traders.

One of those journals, the Left Business Observer, is a semi-monthly newsletter with a socialist slant on politics and economics. More than 3,000 subscribers pay $20 to $50 a year to read Henwood's eight-page attack on affairs of the state.

The other journal, the Liscio Report on the Economy, has no political slant. It is an analysis of the bond market to give investors a jump on trading. The report was founded by the bond trader John Liscio in 1992. Henwood took over the report after Liscio's death in 2000.

Henwood's opponents suggest criticizing capitalism while advising bond traders is unethical.

“I try to be honest and rigorous,” Henwood says about the report. “I try not to spin the facts, but it does afford me some personal conflict.”

Henwood says he does not advertise that he works for both sides. He also does not try to hide it. “Anyone who knows how to use Google can find out.”

He found out for himself at a young age that he has a passion for economics.

In eighth grade, a history teacher inspired him to want to learn about politics after a lecture sympathetic to philosopher and economist Karl Heinrich Marx.

He surprised his parents when he told them he was a Marxist.

Henwood studied English literature at Yale University in the early 1970s. He joined the Party of the Right the same year. It was a complete reversal from the life his New Deal liberal democrat parents intended for him.

He described members of the party as people who drank port wine as they spoke highly of John C. Calhoun, a pre Civil War proponent of slavery and advocate of state's rights to declare federal law unconstitutional.

“I think my way of rebelling was becoming conservative,” he says.

Henwood joked that he later came to his senses while the Watergate scandal began to unfold in 1973.

Henwood began to flirt with economic theory and political philosophy while working on a master's degree at the University of Virginia . He never finished the doctorate program because he was not interested in teaching.

Still, his incomplete dissertation – focusing on the evolution of economics from a viciously competitive system in the 19th century to one of organized industry of the 20th century – became the basis of his philosophy.

He was inspired by authors such as poet Wallace Stevens. Henwood is fond of Stevens' quote “Money is a kind of poetry.”

He says people should not be judged for how they make money.

Henwood acknowledges that capitalism has its advantages, promoting economic growth and technological advancement.

“But it leaves many people behind and a lot of damage in its wake,” he says. “The American economy is brutally unequal.”

He said more then 70% of the U.S. population is working class. They live pay check-to-pay check and constantly borrow money, he says.

Henwood says the United States has the smallest middle class in the world. Poverty and low wages make for a low level of upward mobility, he says.

Henwood says people consider money essential but seldom recognize it as an instrument of social power. Money is little more than faith, he said.

“Money is a strange thing,” Henwood says. “There is something fictitious about money, but we believe in it day to day.”

He is also critical of today's economists.

“Economics today is more about math and models,” he says.

He finds it troubling that few have read books by the founding fathers of economics, such as Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes. Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations, considered the first book of modern economics. Keynes is known for advocating government control of recessions, depressions and booms through spending.

Economists today often consider those works obsolete, but Henwood says this kind of history gives writers perspective.

“Questions of power and purpose in politics are not being questioned,” he said.

Henwood said today's economists often write in jargon, lacking the command of literature his heroes displayed. In the Left Business Observer, he said, he tries “to express that technical material in something that resembles English.”

Henwood has authored three books The State of the USA Atlas , Wall Street and After the New Economy. He is currently researching his next book about American ruling classes.

One thing he does not like about writing is the long turn around. When Henwood finds writing too much work he turns to broadcast.

“There is something very satisfying about how it just drifts out into space,” he says.

He is the host of Behind the News, a Thursday radio show on WBAI-FM in New York . He uses punk and rock music to accent his analysis of money and power.

“I try to be as pop-culture literate and funny as any 53-year-old can be,” he said. “I plan to keep on with the LBO and Liscio until I lose my marbles.”