People should stop saying the recent round of bailouts is "Socialism."
It isn’t.
In Socialism, after the government socializes business losses, they socialize some of the profits, too. So after Socialists take all your money, they at least have the decency to give you back some free stuff.
If I’m going to live in a nation dooming itself to “Socialism,” I’ll move to a country where the healthcare is free and my kids go to college for nothing. I’ll blissfully have no worries (until demand outpaces government production and the nation collapses).
Without “redistributing the wealth” back to the people, it can’t be Socialism.
These bailouts certainly aren’t free market capitalism, either.
In Capitalism, private industry controls production through “competition.” Competition results in better and cheaper products.
Put two burger joints in one town. Competition causes them to fight to serve better tasting, leaner burgers at cheaper prices. The consumer wins and the slob selling high priced, undercooked mystery meat will fail. Capitalism only works if the better business wins and the lesser business fails.
These bailouts are allowing “McRancid Burger” to stay in business despite his high prices and chewy beef. That’s not Capitalism and it isn’t fair to the consumer, or the guy who worked harder to cook a better burger.
So these bailouts aren't Capitalism.
What these bailouts are is Fascism.
People forget that besides frenzied racism, Fascism was also an economic policy. It attempted to be a hybrid of Capitalism and Socialism.
Fascism socialized business losses through bank takeovers and creating government/business cartels, but privatized the profit, ultimately allowing profit to remain with the corporate entity.
Basically, Fascists took the people's money and gave it to the corporations, but nothing went back to the people in the deal.
Now that’s EXACTLY what these bailouts are doing!!!
In Fascism, the government directed business production by tight controls. When we bailed out AIG, one of the sales pitches was that the bailout came with stricter government regulation. That’s the very model of Fascist economics – private enterprise controlled by government.
Another principle of Fascism was “corporatism.” Corporations were not only more important than individuals, but corporate survival equaled the “national interest” itself.
Compare that to today's rhetoric. The government and Wall Street are telling you that AIG is “too big to fail” and GM is “too big to fail.” Fanny and Freddie were “too big to fail.” Allowing them to fail would be bad for the “national interest.”
That’s a scare tactic out of the Fascist playbook. They want you to conclude that if these companies fail, America itself will fail. If there is no more AIG, if there is no more GM, there may be no way to continue America and sustain her government. The corporations and the government are therefore one interest.
That was Benito Mussolini’s motto. He said, "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."
If you are really looking for something to scare you, compare the recent actions of Henry Paulson to the rhetoric of Mussolini.
Paulson appeared before the nation and asked for $700 Billion, which was supposed to be used to buy up failed mortgages, and then negotiate with the people directly to help them out of their foreclosures.
Once we gave him the money to help out our neighbors, he announced he would not use it on them. He funded the cororations directly, instead of the people, judging corporations more important than people to the "national interest."
Here areMussolini's thoughts on whether governments should see corporations or individuals as more important:
"TheFascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State. It is opposed to classical liberalism [that] denied the State in the name of the individual."
``The maxim that society exists only for the well-being and freedom of the individuals composing it does not seem to be in conformity with nature's plans.'' ``If classical liberalism spells individualism, Fascism spells government.'' *
Paulson and the American government are not racial fascists, but there is no denying that by confiscating your money and distributing it to corporations as if they and not you are the national interest, they are acting as Economic Fascists.
If the companies we are bailing out are "too big to fail," then someone please wake up the guy running the Justice Department Anti-trust Unit and kick his rear-end.
I don’t believe for a second that those companies are “too big to fail.” I think they have too many friends in high places to fail.
Does AIG have competitors selling insurance? Does GM have competitors selling cars? Do Fanny, Freddie and American Express have competitors offering credit deals? Yes. I can buy from their competitors. Let capitalism do it's job.
Ignore anyone who tells you this is Socialism.
To really understand what is happening to you today, you are better served reading a book on the political rhetoric used to support the rise of Economic Fascism in early 20th century Europe.
* Mussolini quotes credited to Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Economic Fascism
