General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFascism and Corporations
A lot of folks seem confused about this. The partnership of government and business in fascism is part of the harnessing of all elements of society into service of the state. The bundling of all the slender reeds into one stout scepter that is the state. It is the most extreme form of Nationalism.
A government bought and paid for by business interests to organize society so as to to drive the most money to the people who bought and paid for that government is not fascism.
It is just corruption. And it is a mathematical certainty in any free-market democracy whose people do not protect themselves from the natural trend of politicians identifying with the interests of the class that keeps them in power.
American corporate interests are almost anti-nationalistic, at this point. They don't give the first flying fuck about America or the American people. They are floating parasites seeking to suck America dry and move on to the next host.
gopiscrap
(23,733 posts)el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)and if a Fascist party/leader manifests - how long would it take for the worst sort of corporations to champion fascism as a way to protect themselves form regulation?
Although it would be a free trade fascism - fascism politically, laissez faire economically.
I don't think this is likely myself, but I can imagine some here do.
Bryant
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)If it is not about exulting a nation it isn't plausibly fascism.
It can be just as evil. There are many paths to evil.
I get why people want to call things fascism because it is a very loaded negative term. Corporate Internationalism doesn't evoke Hitler.
I suppose we need to work on loading "corporate internationalism" with evil connotation, because calling everything fascism is a barrier to being taken seriously, and mis-diagnosis seldom helps with a cure.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Just not Nationalistic fascism. It is a new form of Multi-National Fascism. Think NAFTA/CAFTA/TPP/Etc.
The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 29, 1938. Message to congress
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)The same things were said during the cold war about communism, seeking to stretch the bad thing of the moment to encompass everything on Earth other than the current ruling Party in the USA.
(The funeral industry ran ads saying the cremation was communism. For real. And Hitler said that Jewish bankers were Bolsheviks which was absurd by definition, but it is handy to label just about everyone as that thing everybody hates.)
In 1938, all right thinking people were very upset about fascism. It was a useful tactic to stretch to encompass one national and domestic enemies, and FDR had plenty of both.
But that description would make 99% of governments throughout human history as of 1938 fascist. It cannot be the definition of much of anything other than, "everything other than a Representative democratic republic."
For instance, if "ownership of government by an individual" is fascism then it is just a word game to see if we can paint an Egyptian Pharaoh or Henry VIII as a fascist.
Is that really useful?
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)While colonialism by nations has decreased across the world, it appears that an era of corporate colonialism is upon us. Unlike in the pastwhen nations would set up physical empiresgiant multi-national corporations have started to set up de-facto empires across multiple sovereign nations. This new era of corporate colonialism will be characterized by giant corporate interests capturing power in society through economic and social factors, and then using their power to exploit humanity for a massive profit.
Colonialism is an attractive concept to corporations because it allows the colonial power to extract resources (profits) from the host country without having to worry about giving anything back. Because the colonial power has no stake in the welfare of the indigenous population, they have no need to worry about negative externalities (ex. pollution) or the effects of their exploitation on the local economythey can simply extract resources and pay poverty wages while living elsewhere and avoiding all of the negative consequences of their conduct.
In addition to not having to worry about externalities, a colonial power doesnt need to care about social programs or education for the indigenous populations; they simply need enough bodies to facilitate their production and have no interest in the welfare of those who are too young or old to work. If the colonial power needs skilled labor, they can simply hire people from other areas, thus removing the necessity of funding school systems.
Dollar Flying on Flagpole
In the past, nation-states have set up colonial outposts in less powerful areas of the world in order to build their empire. Colonies facilitated trade, acted as military outposts, and allowed the colonial powers to siphon resources from the indigenous populations.
Such colonial empires formed during the expansion of the 1500s and were sustained by numerous European nationsincluding the British colonies which eventually became the United Statesuntil the mid-1900s, by which time a variety of geopolitical factors (ex. revolts, over-extension, etc.) had led most empires to dissolve.
While colonialism by nations has decreased across the world, it appears that an era of corporate colonialism is upon us. Unlike in the pastwhen nations would set up physical empiresgiant multi-national corporations have started to set up de-facto empires across multiple sovereign nations. This new era of corporate colonialism will be characterized by giant corporate interests capturing power in society through economic and social factors, and then using their power to exploit humanity for a massive profit.
Why Would a Corporation Want to be a Colonial Power?
Colonialism is an attractive concept to corporations because it allows the colonial power to extract resources (profits) from the host country without having to worry about giving anything back. Because the colonial power has no stake in the welfare of the indigenous population, they have no need to worry about negative externalities (ex. pollution) or the effects of their exploitation on the local economythey can simply extract resources and pay poverty wages while living elsewhere and avoiding all of the negative consequences of their conduct.
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In addition to not having to worry about externalities, a colonial power doesnt need to care about social programs or education for the indigenous populations; they simply need enough bodies to facilitate their production and have no interest in the welfare of those who are too young or old to work. If the colonial power needs skilled labor, they can simply hire people from other areas, thus removing the necessity of funding school systems.
As is immediately apparent, this type of high-profit, low-cost operation is ideal for the amoral profit-generating mentality of a corporation.
abandon rights at corporate gate cartoon
How Does a Corporation become a Colonial Power?
In order to set up an empire, an entitywhether it is a private corporation or a nationneeds to establish control over areas that they are not based in and begin exploiting them for position or resources. Such control can happen through military force (as nations did in the past) or through economic/political force (which is what corporations are doing now).
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Corporate interests which wish to become a de-facto colonial power need to locate areas with weak or corruptible governments and significant quantities of resources or labor. Once they locate such a location, corporations are able to essentially capture the government through economic pressure and bribery, letting them game the system to gain an advantage. The advantages that these corporations can gain are variedranging from tax exemptions and government contracts to weakened labor laws and assistance in dealing with other countriesbut they are all aimed at letting the corporation extract the maximum profit from the indigenous population while paying nothing back.
Since the mid-20th century, corporate interests have grown immensely wealthy. Currently, some corporate entities have resources which eclipse the economic power of entire countries. For example, Walmarts yearly revenue is so large that, if it were considered a country, its gross domestic product would be the 25th largest in the world. To put this into perspective, Walmart has a yearly revenue which is larger than the combined GDP of Pakistan, Israel and North Koreathree of the worlds nine nuclear powers.
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By storing up huge amounts of money and investing it in political races and policy think-tanks, corporations have gained political influence, particularly in the USA, where weak campaign finance laws allowed wealthy interests to engage in legalized bribery. This economic and political power creates a situation where individual corporations and trade organizations can affect policy and steer governments to do their bidding.
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In both forms of colonialism, democracy is limited and the occupying colonial power retains a great degree of control over the government (instead of taxation without representation, corporate corruption creates democracy without representation). Just as how governments extract resources from colonial outposts, these corporations extract cheap labor and public money from the locales which they have dominated. Finally, both types of colonialism are repressive and immensely damaging for the local population.
Unfortunately, it is rapidly becoming apparent that we, the economic bottom 90% of humanity, are the local population and that it is us who will continue to be exploited by corporations in their intractable greed and desire for even more profits.
http://theprogressivecynic.com/2013/08/09/the-era-of-corporate-colonialism/
thebake
(1 post)I could go on about this, but here's someone who has already set down several of the points I would like to make. So, why not take a look at this?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/13/1083202/-Understanding-The-Nature-of-The-U-S-Corporatist-Fascism