Except for the fact that the National Socialists didn't nationalize any industries or banks (in fact, both the Nazis and Italian Fascists privatized several industries that their predecessors in the Weimar Republic and Facta's government) while Socialist and Communist governments did exactly that. And then there's the fact that the first people that Nazis and Fascists rounded up and shot were union leaders, Socialists, and Communists, not capitalists, landowners, or aristocrats (all of whom, if they weren't Jewish in Nazi Germany or opponents of their regime, kept their wealth and property).
But other than that, yeah, they're exactly the same /sarc>
but some people (Stalinists, or the absurdly stupid) think they are polar opposites (good model for people who divide everything into two categories, as the op-ed writer does here).
Actually, the "Nazis and Fascists were liberals" line of thinking is mostly limited to people who know nothing about history and who take hack talking heads like Jonah Goldberg and the staff at National Review Online seriously as political theorists.
The only "labor unions" allowed in socialist countries are window dressing sweethearts of the single party, and the single party is another important and common characteristic. But it's better to try to make apologia for the USSR. /sarc
Actually, the "Nazis and Fascists were liberals" line of thinking...
That's your line, not mine.
The more important question is, where does the ultimate authority lie under any form of socialism? The State.
So while there was/is private property under national socialism, it was only at the pleasure of the State.
There are no individual rights/God-given freedoms recognized under either system. Moreover, there is no God under either system.
The Nazis recognized that their war machine was furthered by private Enterprise, because the German people are industrious.
The modern left in America is far closer to fascism that communism.