Blog archive from the golden age of London libertarianism
Freddie’s resistance to refis highlights a central conflict of interest that plagues both Freddie and Fannie. That conflict is even more pronounced now that they are owned by taxpayers. The companies, which own or back about 60 percent of U.S. home mortgages, have a mandate to help expand homeownership…
Emphasis mine.
Fannie Mae was created by the Roosevelt Administration and Freddie Mac was created by the Nixon Administration.
However, they both illustrate the original meaning of “corporatism”. “Corporatism” does not mean (contrary to many Americans and those they influence) companies controlling the government – on the contrary “corporatism” means government controlling the economy via “private” organisations that are not really “private” at all.
Mussolini was the leading Marxist in Italy (indeed senior to “Lenin” in the international Marxist movement) and, contrary to Soviet propaganda, he centainly did NOT become a “puppet of big business” – quite the contrary. Musssolini’s “corporatism” was not about big business controlling the government – very much the other way round. Just as Franklin Roosevelt’s 1933 “National Industrial Recovery Act” and “National Recovery Agency” (i.e. General Johnson and his jack booted “Blue Eagle” thugs) may have offered special deals to established companies (for example to General Electric) – but, in the end, were about government power. Had the Supreme Court not struck down the National Recovery Agency in 1935 eventually no company (not even General Electric) would have benefitted. Roosevelt choose to obey the Supreme Court judgement – had he chosen to ignore it the United States really would have become the Fascist country that ignorant people call America, but this would not have been “good for big business” (quite the contrary).
Corporatism was influenced by several schools of thought (for example the “Guild Socialists” of Britian – whom Mussolini had read), but the major influence was German “War Socialism” of World War One. Under this system ownership was nominally private corporate managers remained in nice offices (much like the head of Fannie Mae when it was “private” – although he was realy the puppet, and the sexual partner, of House of Representatives Committee Chairman Barney Frank and his “affordable housing policy”, for some reason the “mainstream” media did not regard any of this as a scandal).
Just as under “War Socialism” power is with the government NOT with “big business” (for example business was far less controlled in France in the First World War – and economic performance was far better than under the “scientific government planning” of Germany).
Sadly (thanks to the “mainstream” media) such things as the Federal Reserve system and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (all nominally “private” but controlled by government appointees and following govenrment policies) were not discredited by the financial crises – indeed the only movement for “reform” is to take the Federal Reserve into official government ownership (much as the Bank of England has been government owned since 1946 – and much as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now government owned as well as government controlled). This is, of course, not really “reform” at all.
Nor is “Dodd-Frank” (the piece of legislation, backed by Comrade Barack Obama, named after two of the most corrupt members of Congress – Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Christopher Dodd) – in fact Dodd-Frank finishes the process (which has been going on for some time – for “deregulation” was a lie spread by fools, and worse than fools) of turning the American banking and general financial industry into an arm of government – “private” only in name.
Should Dodd-Frank stand then banking (and the entire financial industry) will no more be “private” in the United States than the general German economy was “private” either under the “War Socialism” period of the First World War or during the 1930s (when even that SMALL MINORITY of “big business” that had backed the National Socialists learned to bitterly regret what they had done).
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