WWII

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John T. Flynn on American Fascism

July 20, 2010 in Fascism by Greg | 3 comments

The growth of fascism in America was noted by Robert Higgs in the post Participatory Fascism. Prior to this, American journalist John T. Flynn – like Friedrich A. von Hayek – warned near the conclusion of WWII how this state of events might transpire:

American Fascism Fascism will come at the hands of perfectly authentic Americans, as violently against Hitler and Mussolini as the next one, but who are convinced that the present economic system is washed up and that the present political system in America has outlived its usefulness and who wish to commit this country to the rule of the bureaucratic state; interfering in the affairs of the states and cities; taking part in the management of industry and finance and agriculture; assuming the role of great national banker and investor, borrowing billions every year and spending them on all sorts of projects through which such a government can paralyze opposition and command public support; marshaling great armies and navies at crushing costs to support the industry of war and preparation for war which will become our greatest industry; and adding to all this the most romantic adventures in global planning, regeneration, and domination all to be done under the authority of a powerfully centralized government in which the executive will hold in effect all the powers with Congress reduced to the role of a debating society. There is your fascist. And the sooner America realizes this dreadful fact the sooner it will arm itself to make an end of American fascism masquerading under the guise of the champion of democracy.1

Flynn predicted the ominous effect of unlimited government spending over time:

Continuing this policy will no longer run with the great current of desire in America. Regulating business, cutting in as the partner of industry, repressing the labor unions that were encouraged to action, satisfying the aged who were lured on to dream of abundance—all this will present a problem that will call for such drastic impositions upon every section of the population that nothing short of a totalitarian government supported by the weapons of ruthless coercion and the will to use them will bring compliance from the people. We shall presently be presented with the final crisis—the necessity of taking the last few steps of the last mile to fascism in some generated crisis, of ending the prologue and running up the curtain on the swelling theme—or of calling off the whole wretched business in some costly, yet inescapable, convulsion.2

What were Flynn’s intentions? According to Ronald Radosh,

John T. Flynn on American Fascism »»

  1. As We Go Marching. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1942. 252-253.↩
  2. Ibid. 257.↩

Great Depression and Current Recession Compared

October 9, 2009 in Economics by Greg | 1 comment

Earlier this week, Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at The Independent Institute, spoke about the similarities and differences between the Great Depression and the current recession at the Economic Liberty lecture series. Although he finds considerable differences between the two events, he feels there are only a few similarities between the Great Depression and the current recession.

Below are my notes of his presentation.

There are some similarities as well as differences.

The media and journalists have rushed to see these similarities.

I was shocked.

The Great Depression was so much more horrible, devastating, than the current recession.

They were using this talk to sell some type of policy to the people who look to the government for answers.

I don’t feel the two events are fully comparable.

People would be much happier living through today’s recession than during the Great Depression.

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IG Farben and Hugh Nibley

January 11, 2009 in Government by Greg | 8 comments

Hugh W. Nibley spoke about the controversial German conglomerate I.G. Farben with his son Alex Nibley in Sergeant Nibley PhD, a book about the elder’s experience in World War II. Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG earned much-needed foreign exchange to help finance the Nazi war machine, helped build and maintain Auschwitz for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi party of Germany, and held ties with key U.S. counterparts before and during the war including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan, Standard Oil, Du Pont, Dow Chemical, and Ford Motor Company.

Sergeant Nibley PhD Apparently as the war neared an end, a few friends of Sergeant Nibley went looking for a place to hold an NCO club in Heidelberg. While searching for a suitable location among many fraternity houses they came upon Germania House, a frat house that had concealed records linking the U.S. corporation Standard Oil to Germany’s I.G. Farben. Here is what Alex Nibley wrote about his father’s experience:

I ended up in Heidelberg at the headquarters for General Dever and the 6th Army Group. That’s where all the fancy people were, and they kept giving each other medals every Thursday and this, that, and the other. General Devers liked comfort, and he wanted everybody to be comfortable. We enjoyed ourselves in Heidelberg. This was the center of German education, and when I had been a missionary in that region I had seriously considered returning to go to school in Heidelberg. Also, the city had not been touched by the war and stood all intact. The first thing after we got there, some old friends of mine from Ritchie went to look for a good respectable frat house for the non-coms, because we wanted our own club. Heidelberg is of course where the tradition of university fraternities reached its zenith and the city was full of wonderful mansions used by the fraternities, so our guys went to this very elegant one, the Germania House. I wasn’t there, but they told me about it. They said, “We went up and knocked on the door and a butler in full-dress livery – everything but a powdered wig – came to the door and looked at us in surprise and said, ‘Well, you people were here yesterday. We don’t have any of the records any more. They’re all gone.’

“What records? What happened? we said.

“Well, they had these big trucks, and we took all the records out and put them in the trucks and they took them away.’

“We said, ‘What records?’

“Your Standard Oil records. We had all your Standard Oil Company records here,’ the butler said.”

IG Farben and Hugh Nibley »»