A More Sophisticated Fascism

Fascism is a much abused terminology. It is not fundamentally either racist or hyper-
nationalism, although both can be nicely fit into it. At some level, it does stem from regime
dictation of falling rates of social surplus. In that sense, it does include state coersion. But
the arc of all collectivism is toward totalitarian fascism.  What it comes down to in policy
matters is a sort of domestic imperialism. The regime imposes autocannibalization and
primitive accumulation proceeding on the enforced fall in the rate of social surplus. 

Many progressivist economists insist that there is no formal model of fascism, but that is
simply not the case, either. It involves corporatist structures which take some form of
collective control over production. If they insist that fascism diverges from socialism in its
preservation of private property, it is a qualified form of property rights which exists in
name only. And the most effective such mechanism of falling surplus is that which is, at
least in principle or appearance, self-imposed, which is the substance of corporatism. 

Confiscatory marginal tax rates to fund bureaucracies which are little more than social
control mechanisms, or for debt service, is explicitly what fascism is. Of course, such ends
can be acheived in less overt manner, such as through redistributive schemes or inflation,
to but skim the surface of possibilities. 

It is, further, a path that becomes a slippery slope, as a self-perpetuating process of greater
costs of social control and debt service which become inevitably requisite. That was
exactly the point of Hayek's argument of the road to serfdom involved in collectivism. 
And it is the substance of the third world war. 

Some have gone so far as to refer to such models as 'friendly fascism' or 'fascism with a
human face.' Hjalmar Schacht pursued such a course, only to come to the apparent
realization that fascism/corporatism can be neither friendly nor human. Robert Reich does
not reach that realization. But the character of the economics of the third world war are
exactly Schactian. 

The World is Not Overpopulated; It is Underdeveloped

When Al Gore insists that not only does the developed sector in its wasteful existence
destroy the environment (he argues that the internal combustion engine is the most deadly
of all human inventions), he also insists that the third world is overpopulated, and that
such overpopulation is destroying the earth (see Earth in the Balance). Kyoto conforms
nicely with such notions. It is also worthy of note, however, that the people of the third
world are 'people of color,' and therefore is arguing that there are too many nonwhite
people in the world. But Al Gore's prescriptions are not fundamentally racist in the way
that may indicate, for the advanced sector and its market capitalism is just as culpable in
the harm it inflicts. 

The world is not overpopulated. There are not too many people for the world's resouces
and capital. That views fails just where its Malthusian character fails. Its vision is of
resources and wealth as fixed and fininte, when they are nothing of the sort. The world is
not overpopulated -- it is underdeveloped. Indeed, the world needs more people, able to
more fully reach their productive potential so that there is adequate wealth produced for
all to enjoy high standards of living. But prescriptions which mandate continued
underdevelopment lead inevitably to the Malthusian conclusion, and that is what
conditionalities and war against development (or for social control) lead to. 

That vision neglects the role of the creative powers of human mind. It overlooks
technology. And it also reaches to corollaries which lock the human species into 
acceptance or even pursuit of reduction of the rate of social surplus. 

As for tyrannical regimes, how else can such ends be effectively pursued? Eventually, no
matter how 'democratically' posed such economics may be structured, eventually they
cannot be sustained short of coercion. Told in 1950 when tax rates hovered around 20 %
that they would quietly, or even eagerly, accept 40 % + tax rates by the end of the
century, Americans would have been as incredulous as they are now in being told that they
will, fifty years hence, live with 80 %+ tax rates. 

And, as for war and less formalized forms of conflict, they are fundamentally the 
result of underdevelopment. They also do something quite important in an overpopulated
world. They reduce population. In the third world, they have effected that with Draconian
efficiency. There are literally millions less people alive now as direct result of such conflict
as those enumerated earlier. 

The Progress of Peoples

Among the criticisms entered relative to Paul VI's encyclical (see The Progress of Peoples)
has been that of Ayn Rand (see Capitalism: The Unrealized Ideal). But the real barrier to
technology transfer and development which Paul called for as conscious policy has not
been state effort to effect such policies. Rather, regimes have consciously sought, or have
been coerced into pursuing, policies which preclude these requisites of development. Free
market forces would have brought them about. 

You Must Remember This . . .

No man is an island. Indeed, we are all intricately tied together in an inexorable. Just as it
is not necessary to send to find for whom it is the bell tolls because it tolls for all and each,
it is not only the death of any person that reduces all, it is the diminishment of the
productive potential of anyone which diminishes all and each. Martin Luther King spoke
of this concept in spiritual terms, perhaps, but the poet John Donne recognized the
economic implications, as well. The fundamental thing applies as time goes by. 

The simple cup of coffee that we enjoy requires the productive activity of every person on
the face of the earth. The greater the number of human beings productively engaged, the
more cups of coffee we can all enjoy. 

In a very real sense, we are all wearing Victor Laslo's shoes. 



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