In his column today, Lew Rockwell shows the historical parallels between Obama’s anti-market policies and those of FDR, who succeeded in turning a serious recession into the Great Depression.
Rockwell dares to use the f-word: fascist. It’s perfectly accurate. Fascism means government domination of economic life through rules and regulations while nominally preserving private ownership. FDR’s “Brain Trust” — a group of intellectuals who were all starry-eyed over the prospect of transforming the U.S. to suit their grand visions — consisted mainly of admirers of Mussolini.
The economic trouble with fascism is that is supplants decision-making by people who stand to benefit if they’re right and to lose if they’re wrong, with decision-making by politicians and bureaucrats, who don’t. That’s a recipe for foolish, short-sighted policies that undermine incentives and squander resources.
