Capitalism, fascism, it's an easy switch for any capitalist government, they are just slight variations on the same theme. 2008, the capitalist system had blown its lot on a mad gambling spree, suddenly the state is the corporate banker and starts to throw money at the corporate gamblers to help them survive their losses. All of this of course comes from the public purse, so we pick up the tab in the shape of years of austerity. Move forward to 2020, and we have Covid19 bringing havoc to the capitalist world of shareholders, once again the state becomes the corporate banker and throws billions to shore up the shareholders empire. Once again, we the public will pick up the tab, with the cash bonus to the corporate club being much larger than the previous, the austerity when it hits, will be even more brutal than the last time round.
The so called "welfare state" is just a temporary measure, a sort of paracetamol for the public, to make them feel a little bit better. It can, of course, and has been, quickly dismantled, if the corporate world needs a hand out. As has been proven in the past, and will be again, when the bills start arriving for all those billions that the state flung at the corporate shareholders.
We should note, fascism doesn't need to arrive with jackboots, it can arrive in expensive suits and limousines.
We should note, fascism doesn't need to arrive with jackboots, it can arrive in expensive suits and limousines.
The following is a short extract from an article in Acorn Winter Oak, about the rise of Mussolini in Italy, Nothing has really changed, we have allowed history to repeat and repeat itself, and we, the general public, bear the brunt each time. Perhaps this time round we will get the picture and bring this stinking system crashing down.
---After 1925, in the face of economic crisis, the pure economic liberalism of the Manchester School went out of the window, in favour of state intervention.
But this was intervention in the interests of business and Capital, not in the interests of the Italian people whom fascism mendaciously claimed to represent!
‘Development’ was at the forefront of fascist plans, as is the case with all industrial capitalists. More land was cultivated and an infrastructure of roads, new towns and industrial estates was built.
“A vast programme of public works was undertaken, carried out by private firms, who were offered lucrative contracts by the State. Electrification of the rail system began, with the construction of tunnels on the Rome-Naples and Bologna-Florence lines. A massive road building programme was entrusted to ANAS (Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade), created in 1928, which oversaw the showcase construction of big toll motorways, the first in Europe”. This was nothing other than a bailing-out of the capitalist economy by the pro-business fascist state, for which the cost would ultimately have to be borne by the public.
Ring any bells in 2020?
Banks were also treated to fascist largesse, notably BCI, saved by the Italian state with a massive influx of money.
Note the authors: “There was neither socialisation nor nationalisation. The State became capitalist; it guaranteed the property of most of the shareholders and their future dividends. The only socialisation was that of the losses, assumed by the public purse”.---
