The Fascism of Obama
Timothy Birdnow
After ramming through banking reform - and costing banks lots of money - Barack Obama expresses shock, shock! at rising banking fees.
According to this story from Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65086.html
'“You can stop it because if you say to the banks: You don’t have some inherent right just to, you know, get a certain amount of profit, if your customers are being mistreated, that you have to treat them fairly and transparently,” Obama said.
The president said the $5 per month charge “is exactly why we need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening” and noted that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the type of strong watchdog agency the U.S. needs to crack down on cases like this."
End excerpt.
Now, the other Illinois Senator, Dick Durbin, he O' the turbin, the Sheik of the burning bland, pushed through legislation capping what retailers could charge for processing fees on debit cards, so the banks simply passed the costs on directly to the consumers. Bank of America announced that they would be charging a $5 fee for processing, and this prompted Obama's angry diatribe.
But what is illustrative is the thought-process evinced by Obama; banks are mere caretakers of economic activity, not entities entitled to pursue their own interests.
To liberals business exists not to make profits or advance shareholder interests but to serve the public welfare - and that welfare is to be determined by some central planner.
Which brings to mind this quote from Gunter Reimann on what the Nazis were doing back in 1939:
"Backed by the General Staff of the army, Nazi bureaucrats have been able to embark upon schemes which compel the most powerful leaders of business and finance to undertake projects which they consider both risky and unprofitable. The building-up of the German war economy takes precedence over everything, including the opinions of private capitalists and their scientific research staffs. . . . The viewpoint of private investors and industrialists who think of the ultimate safety and soundness of investments has been disregarded."
Günter Reimann, The Vampire Economy: Doing Business under Fascism (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1939)
Gee, let me think about that; General Motors and the Chevy Volt pop into mind. Ditto subprime mortgages. Solyndra anyone? In fact, all of this "green economy".
As Jeffrey M. Herbener points out about Nazi economics in a missive at the Mises Institute:
http://mises.org/daily/1935
"Faced with the dearth of profitable opportunities in the shrinking market economy, investors turned to what they thought would be safe-havens from state power such as real estate and precious metals and gems. Thus, even the capital not consumed by the state was directed away from the capital structure.[12]
As part of the drive to bring capital markets under their control, the Nazis made bankers mere functionaries. Like their counterparts in industry, big bankers eagerly entangled themselves in the web of state power by accepting bailouts to avoid bankruptcy during the banking crisis in 1931.
In 1933 the state declared its "control of all credit institutions" and began to license banks, collect information on debtors, and scrutinize banking operations. The state dictated to them what investments they were permitted to recommend to investors, namely government bonds and bonds of the enterprises subsidized by the state. Bankers were forbidden to express less than optimistic assessments of the state's financial condition. For investors who refused such advice and withdrew their capital from banks to invest on their own initiative, bankers were obligated to report their activity to the state. A large bureaucracy was formed to oversee banking, centered in the Reichsbank. By 1935, state spending had ballooned to the point that private investment decisions had been supplanted and banking was under the full sway of the state.[13]
End excerpt.
Increasingly, the Obama Administration resembles a modern-day Fascist entity. Fascist economic theory was predicated on large public works projects, on high spending and high taxation, on devaluation of the Lire (or Mark, or in our case the dollar), on regulation. No one could argue that the Real Estate boom occured because of public policy that compelled banks to make risky loans, or that the gold boom today is being driven by public policy. The government burst the dotcom bubble of the 1990's (remember the lawsuit against Microsoft, anyone?), and investors went into Real Estate as a way to protect their assets. Now they are buying gold. Sound familiar?
And bailouts? Where have I heard that one before?
Mussolini established the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) in 1933 to rescue endangered corporations, and by 1939 had control of 20% of all Italian business. In 1935 Mussolini proudly proclaimed that 3/4 of all Italian businesses were dependent in some fashion on the State.
And Mussolini had his own Recovery and Reinvestment Act, tripling public works spending by 1934.
The Nazis, meanwhile, had their 25 point program, which included:
7.We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.
10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all.
11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery
13. We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.
18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
(Rather reminds one of Congressional investigations of Bankers and Tobacco Company Execs, no?)
Here's a very familiar non-economic one:
20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.
Also:
21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race: b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language: c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.
(Just think about Obama's recently created "Truth Squad" in Missouri a while back http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/09/29/missouri-sheriffs-prosecutors-obama-truth-squad-getting-old-media-silenc or his recent website designed to suppress opposition. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/181301-obama-campaign-launches-website-to-fight-misinformation )
25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.
End
Now, this all sounds quite familiar, quite familiar indeed! Obama may be the first black President, but he can also claim to be a brown one!
A man who thinks this way, who believes government has a right and duty to micromanage human activity in the interest of "fairness" is indistinguishable from Mussolini and his Fascists. Obama may be a velvet glove Fascist, but a Fascist he remains.
I find it ironic that he called himself and his cronies "the ones that we have been waiting for"; Mussolini called himself Il Duce, or The One.
Two things that are indistinguishable from each other are the same thing. Or as O.J. Simpson's lawyer said "if the glove doesn't fit you must acquit"; Fascism fits this hand like, well, a glove!
After ramming through banking reform - and costing banks lots of money - Barack Obama expresses shock, shock! at rising banking fees.
According to this story from Politico:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65086.html
'“You can stop it because if you say to the banks: You don’t have some inherent right just to, you know, get a certain amount of profit, if your customers are being mistreated, that you have to treat them fairly and transparently,” Obama said.
The president said the $5 per month charge “is exactly why we need somebody whose sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening” and noted that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the type of strong watchdog agency the U.S. needs to crack down on cases like this."
End excerpt.
Now, the other Illinois Senator, Dick Durbin, he O' the turbin, the Sheik of the burning bland, pushed through legislation capping what retailers could charge for processing fees on debit cards, so the banks simply passed the costs on directly to the consumers. Bank of America announced that they would be charging a $5 fee for processing, and this prompted Obama's angry diatribe.
But what is illustrative is the thought-process evinced by Obama; banks are mere caretakers of economic activity, not entities entitled to pursue their own interests.
To liberals business exists not to make profits or advance shareholder interests but to serve the public welfare - and that welfare is to be determined by some central planner.
Which brings to mind this quote from Gunter Reimann on what the Nazis were doing back in 1939:
"Backed by the General Staff of the army, Nazi bureaucrats have been able to embark upon schemes which compel the most powerful leaders of business and finance to undertake projects which they consider both risky and unprofitable. The building-up of the German war economy takes precedence over everything, including the opinions of private capitalists and their scientific research staffs. . . . The viewpoint of private investors and industrialists who think of the ultimate safety and soundness of investments has been disregarded."
Günter Reimann, The Vampire Economy: Doing Business under Fascism (New York: The Vanguard Press, 1939)
Gee, let me think about that; General Motors and the Chevy Volt pop into mind. Ditto subprime mortgages. Solyndra anyone? In fact, all of this "green economy".
As Jeffrey M. Herbener points out about Nazi economics in a missive at the Mises Institute:
http://mises.org/daily/1935
"Faced with the dearth of profitable opportunities in the shrinking market economy, investors turned to what they thought would be safe-havens from state power such as real estate and precious metals and gems. Thus, even the capital not consumed by the state was directed away from the capital structure.[12]
As part of the drive to bring capital markets under their control, the Nazis made bankers mere functionaries. Like their counterparts in industry, big bankers eagerly entangled themselves in the web of state power by accepting bailouts to avoid bankruptcy during the banking crisis in 1931.
In 1933 the state declared its "control of all credit institutions" and began to license banks, collect information on debtors, and scrutinize banking operations. The state dictated to them what investments they were permitted to recommend to investors, namely government bonds and bonds of the enterprises subsidized by the state. Bankers were forbidden to express less than optimistic assessments of the state's financial condition. For investors who refused such advice and withdrew their capital from banks to invest on their own initiative, bankers were obligated to report their activity to the state. A large bureaucracy was formed to oversee banking, centered in the Reichsbank. By 1935, state spending had ballooned to the point that private investment decisions had been supplanted and banking was under the full sway of the state.[13]
End excerpt.
Increasingly, the Obama Administration resembles a modern-day Fascist entity. Fascist economic theory was predicated on large public works projects, on high spending and high taxation, on devaluation of the Lire (or Mark, or in our case the dollar), on regulation. No one could argue that the Real Estate boom occured because of public policy that compelled banks to make risky loans, or that the gold boom today is being driven by public policy. The government burst the dotcom bubble of the 1990's (remember the lawsuit against Microsoft, anyone?), and investors went into Real Estate as a way to protect their assets. Now they are buying gold. Sound familiar?
And bailouts? Where have I heard that one before?
Mussolini established the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) in 1933 to rescue endangered corporations, and by 1939 had control of 20% of all Italian business. In 1935 Mussolini proudly proclaimed that 3/4 of all Italian businesses were dependent in some fashion on the State.
And Mussolini had his own Recovery and Reinvestment Act, tripling public works spending by 1934.
The Nazis, meanwhile, had their 25 point program, which included:
7.We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.
10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all.
11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery
13. We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.
18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.
(Rather reminds one of Congressional investigations of Bankers and Tobacco Company Execs, no?)
Here's a very familiar non-economic one:
20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.
Also:
21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race: b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language: c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.
(Just think about Obama's recently created "Truth Squad" in Missouri a while back http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/09/29/missouri-sheriffs-prosecutors-obama-truth-squad-getting-old-media-silenc or his recent website designed to suppress opposition. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/181301-obama-campaign-launches-website-to-fight-misinformation )
25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.
End
Now, this all sounds quite familiar, quite familiar indeed! Obama may be the first black President, but he can also claim to be a brown one!
A man who thinks this way, who believes government has a right and duty to micromanage human activity in the interest of "fairness" is indistinguishable from Mussolini and his Fascists. Obama may be a velvet glove Fascist, but a Fascist he remains.
I find it ironic that he called himself and his cronies "the ones that we have been waiting for"; Mussolini called himself Il Duce, or The One.
Two things that are indistinguishable from each other are the same thing. Or as O.J. Simpson's lawyer said "if the glove doesn't fit you must acquit"; Fascism fits this hand like, well, a glove!
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 4:28 AM
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