Trump Wants Cash To Buy Shares in Key US Companies and Dictate To Them
In the late 1930s, Benito Mussolini’s “corporate state” possessed the world’s highest rate of state-owned enterprises outside of the Soviet Union. Mussolini had a state institution under his control buy up shares of private companies, insisting that national security, including economic self-sufficiency in key sectors, required this control. Yet, his move left Italy in worse shape to wage war.
I’ve found no case of a Trump official publicly touting Mussolini as a model. Nor am I calling Trump a fascist, although he is certainly undermining democracy. Nonetheless, there is a striking resemblance in some economic measures. Trump, too, wants to create a mammoth fund to buy up shares in companies. He, too, claims national security requires his tariffs, government shares in corporations, and taking away funds for university research in science/technology areas. He, too, is reducing his country’s economic vitality.
https://richardkatz.substack.com/p/the-mussolini-corporatism-behind