[TArcher]

“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism,
as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”
- Benito Mussolini

[ClearCase_guy]

Eisenhower famously spoke about the “Military-Industrial complex”. Some folks thought that was about the Army and the defense contractors, more or less. But really it is a broad concept — that merging corporate and government power is a huge mistake and deprives we the people of our freedom. That way lies dictatorship. Eisenhower knew it.

[Sherman Logan]

“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”

Unfortunately for the leftist notion that Fascism meant rule by corporations, the business corporation was not (primarily) what Musso was talking about here.

The word "corporation" comes from a root meaning "body." The corporatism of the (Italian) Fascists was in theory rule by a host of citizen "bodies" including business corporations, but also including labor unions, professional associations, cooperatives, consumer groups, etc.

In theory it was a massive expansion of what we now call "public-private cooperation."

In practice it was of course nothing of the kind, and the wealthy had disproportionate influence, as they do in just about all forms of governance.