Economics and Fascism

 


Economics is often referred to as "the dismal science." I always thought that was because it preached there are limited resources and when we use some for one purpose there are fewer left for some other purpose. This simple idea almost seems almost self-evident. It has been criticized by clergy because the Bible says "the Lord will provide."                   

A popular definition of fascism is a society where the rich own the economy and use their might to dominate politics and pass laws benefiting themselves. Since most (not all) of economics favors using markets to decide who buys what and who works and earns one place while others work and earn elsewhere liberal people sometimes accuse economics of being fascists. You can read a rebuttal of this in the link.

Economics has always opposed fascism. It is the opposite of competition and of using the talents across the broad sweep of society. Economics has a link to the little guy and to populism. 

It's ironic that President Biden is accused of being a socialist while Trump is praised as a capitalist. Trump's economic logic, stressing the value of the rich being the decision makers for all, while Biden wanted the lower income class to have the ability to compete, a concept of capitalism. It's hard to imagine how or who will straighten out economic policy after Trump. The damage is so great it will take some clear thinking and a lot of time to correct. 

The discipline of economics is in favor of good schools, a reasonable distribution of income and wealth and prices and wages that reflect the value exchanged. I hope some of these in the future.

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