On this date in 2008, few people realized financial markets were approaching a historic collapse that threatened to paralyze the world's economy and continues to affect it today. And not so coincidentally, only a few people could have honestly said they had heard of Simon Johnson, either. Johnson wasn't living in a cave then. He was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, a well-regarded MIT academic with real-world experience. But he was known, not famous, even in his own professional world. The next two years changed everything. The global meltdown, a little fortuitous timing, and an especially provocative point of view turned Johnson into a big name in the global economic debate. By this week, the economist few people knew two years ago was squeezing book plugs between punch lines with Stephen Colbert on television. The rise of Simon Johnson is a story of the Internet age. He left the IMF in fall 2008, just as the full force of the financial crisis was about to hit world markets. Johnson started a blog called The Baseline Scenario with his brother-in-law, James Kwak, and colleague Peter Boone to seize the moment. 'I think the Internet changes a lot of things,' Johnson says. 'If you have something to say and people want to hear it, it's a powerful vehicle.' Johnson had spent much of his career analyzing financial crises around the world. He put that experience to work on the blog and found an online audience of economists as well as other people simply engaged or enraged by events. His message came with a sharp point. Johnson compared America's biggest banks to the politically wired oligarchs who resisted needed economic reforms in troubled developing countries while he worked at the IMF. The banks were part of the problem, not any solution, and they were calling the shots in Washington. His response: Smash the biggest six into smaller pieces. That view, and the debate it created online, built a following that remains today. The Baseline Scenario has attracted about 4.6 million visitors over the past 12 months. Johnson's opinions on the Internet attracted the attention of other economists and got a helpful plug from Paul Krugman. They also led to other media opportunities that helped build the Johnson profile. In May last year, The Atlantic published 'The Quiet Coup,' Johnson's 6,800-word expanded argument against the biggest US banks and the dangers of undue political influence in the hands of financial institutions. The online version was The Atlantic's third most-read story of the past year. Johnson's media snowball began to pick up more speed. He became a popular voice on National Public Radio, appeared in a long interview with Bill Moyers, and, yes, even went on Comedy Central. Now Johnson is promoting his new book, '13 Bankers,' a reference to the big-bank chief executives summoned to the White House for a famous meeting in March last year. He describes the book, which went on sale this week, as an expansion upon his Atlantic article of a year ago. Today, Johnson is something like famous. That might not have happened without the Internet. It certainly wouldn't have occurred without very provocative opinions. And like all people in his situation, Simon Johnson has acquired an identity. He's the economist Wall Street loves to hate. 