Socialism of the German Pattern November 9, 2005
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Politics , comments closedSocialism of the German [or Nazi] pattern is Ludwig von Mises’ term for
[a]n economic system completely planned and controlled by the government while retaining many of the labels and nominal forms of capitalism. A form of socialism which retains the appearance and terminology of the market economy while in fact private ownership of the means of production, real buying and selling, and real market prices, wages and interest rates no longer exist because all production activities and product allocations are directed and controlled by government orders which all participants are bound to obey unconditionally.
This form of anti-economic system, a variation of socialism, is also known as Fascism. The United States is not yet a full-scale Fascist dictatorship, but it certainly is headed way — the statists disdain for the word “fascism” notwithstanding.
We still “retain the appearance and terminology of the [free] market economy” in this country today. This helps blame all economic ills on capitalism, yet we have no real private ownership of the means of production: ownership means the ability to control and dispose of what one owns. We no longer have market wages, as the State has managed to impose universal minimum wages that everyone, both employer and employee must obey. And certainly we have no market-dependent interest rates — this is fully set and controlled by the Federal Reserve, which is in total control of the country’s banking system.
The only vestige of capitalism that this country retains today is a highly hampered and regulated stock market — where the government can appropriate to itself any percentage of profits that it wishes. A market where such wholly undefinable practices as “price gouging” [read: high prices], “predatory pricing” [read: low prices], and “price fixing”, are forbidden at the risk of hefty fines and jail sentences.
Shamelessly demonstrating the truth of the above, Senators of the Energy and Commerce Committees decided yesterday to summon the executives of oil companies in order for these latter to justify their latest profits, i.e., to tell the congressmen why they shouldn’t have their earnings wrestled from their hands — important to note is that these hearings were called for for by soi-disant Grand Oil Party members:
“[T]here are those who abuse the free enterprise system to advantage themselves and their businesses at the expense of all Americans, they ought to be exposed, and they ought to be ashamed …
“I have asked [the members if the Senate Energy and Commerce Committees] to call as witnesses executives from the major oil companies and representatives of the state attorneys general, who have the initial responsibility of keeping the behavior of local energy providers on the straight and narrow.”
Those were the words of Senate Majority Leader, William Frist. Evidently, Senator Frist has no clear idea what a FREE market is, let alone how it works. In hist conception of a free (?!) market, businessmen are supposed to be kept “on the straight and narrow,” i.e., fully regimented, by the local attorney general and his gang of enforcers. And in this free (?!) market the free exchanges among individuals are not made according to mutual interest and benefit, but rather, lead to the unforgivable exploitation of man by man.
Yep. In Mr. Frist’s free (?!) market, Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” is completely absent — here, Herr Doktor Karl Marx is the uncontested ruler … with Senator Frist as his self-appointed lieutenant, of course. Yes again: when it comes to the direction toward which this so-called “free” market should head, Senator Frist thinks he — not the entrepreuneurs or the consumers — knows best:
“We need to increase refinement capacity, provide more energy resources, encourage conservation, invest in science and technology, and, most importantly, transition towards energy independence, including the use of more alternative fuels.”
As to the morality that makes this idiocy permissible, it couldn’t have been more explicit than this:
People are concerned about fairness and justice at a time of sacrifice. Your sacrifice appears to be nothing.
Seems like those who label socialism as a system of equal misery for all are not so far off the mark, after all. The above was senator Boxer’s address to the executives during yesterday’s Inquisition — which so far has accomplished nothing except making economically ignorant and reckless masses believe that something — anything — is being done about the high costs of energy.
Technorati Tags: Market Regulations, Leviathan State, Ludiwig von Mises, Price Gouging, Oil Prices, Katrina