Posted on 03/30/2009 1:48:36 PM PDT by MeanWestTexan
In 1944, Ludwig von Mises published one of his least-known masterworks: Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War. Drawing on his prewar experience in Vienna, watching the rise of the National Socialists in Germany (the Nazis), who would eventually take over his own homeland, he set out to draw parallels between the Russian and German experience with socialism.
. . .
The difference between the systems, wrote Mises, is that the German pattern "maintains private ownership of the means of production and keeps the appearance of ordinary prices, wages, and markets." But in fact the government directs production decisions, curbs entrepreneurship and the labor market, and determines wages and interest rates by central authority. "Market exchange," says Mises, "is only a sham."
. . .
Mises's account is confirmed by a remarkable book that appeared in 1939, published by Vanguard Press in New York City (and unfortunately out of print today). It is The Vampire Economy: Doing Business Under Fascism by Guenter Reimann, then a 35-year-old German writer. Through contacts with German business owners, Reimann documented how the "monster machine" of the Nazis crushed the autonomy of the private sector through onerous regulations, harsh inspections, and the threat of confiscatory fines for petty offenses.
"Industrialists were visited by state auditors who had strict orders to examine the balance sheets and all bookkeeping entries of the company or individual businessmen for the preceding two, three, or more years until some error or false entry was found," explains Reimann. "The slightest formal mistake was punished with tremendous penalties. A fine of millions of marks was imposed for a single bookkeeping error."
Reimann quotes from a businessman's letter: "You have no idea how far state control goes and how much power the Nazi representatives have over our work. The worst of it is that they are so ignorant. These Nazi radicals think of nothing except 'distributing the wealth.' Some businessmen have even started studying Marxist theories, so that they will have a better understanding of the present economic system.
Given Obama's recent strong-arm firing of the CEO of a private company, I thought the comparison apt.
Here is one from the same site I’ve posted several times here on FR, titled National Socialism.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130921/posts
I lifted this over to Yahoo Answers: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090330135757AACAsY4&r=w
Whew! Well, at least Obama is not a racist!/s;)
I read The Rise and Fall of The Reich years ago...history repeating itself!
Great minds, I guess.
You haven’t heard the asprin joke, yet, have you?
That pretty cool.
It’s all about payoffs, PAYOFFS, and even MORE payoffs to corrupt DEMOCRAT government Officials.
Libs cannot deny it any longer, FASCISM has arrived riding a dark horse called “CHANGE!”
no, and this is the second time in a matter of minutes i’ve seen it referenced. so what is it????
I freepmailed it to you.
Oboz’s approach is much closer to Mussolini’s than to Hitler’s. Hence, Il Douche.
I don’t know enough about Duce to answer that.
It’s a mix. It pulls in many elements from the various tyrannies. The National Service Army seems more akin to Cuba’s or Chavez’s, and those are after Mao.
It’s an interesting outlet for ideas. Very frothy. The half life of a political question is about seven minutes — and the answers don’t start until late in the fourth minute. A three minute window of opportunity.
There’s a little longer half life in other question categories, but the interesting thing is the long life of the answers once the question is closed. Google seems to give them some weight. I don’t know why! As answers go, few are legitimate.
Some businessmen have even started studying Marxist theories, so that they will have a better understanding of the present economic system.
I don’t know, the whole car czar reeks of Hitler’s Reichverband der Deutschen Automobilindustrie (the RDA).
Another freeper turn me on to this. Here is the book for free in PDF. An easy read, just pick a chapter and start if you can’t read it all
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/media/pdf/2782.pdf
Hey, thanks.
I am just shocked at how we need to party like it’s 1938.
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