Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for November 05, 2010

Thanks, pbarnrob, for the Wiki reference. I thought it was an excellent analysis of fascism in all its aspects. But in its broad-ranging discussion, economics was not central, and economic theory is the context of my comments.

Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises, the greatest economist you’ve probably never heard of, is the source of my claim that fascism is a fraudulent variety of socialism, invented for the purpose of distinguishing themselves from communism, even though both, practiced consistently, end up as totalitarian dictatorships.

So this doesn’t apply to America? Not true. The fact we haven’t gone down the same route as dozens of other countries – yet – doesn’t mean the principles of collectivism and statism that lead to full-blown socialism aren’t at work in the U.S. For over a century they have been gravitationally tugging us ever closer to a fully government-managed economy.

But like the famous frog in the slowly heated pot, most people don’t see what’s happening to them. But Obama has turned up the heat a little too much, and a great many Americans are becoming aware of the socialist trend and are protesting against it. It remains to be seen how effective the protest is and how long it lasts.