U.S. Corporations+Fascism=cozy bed fellows

Corporations do not see Fascism as an end game or some ideological principle, but rather as a convenient and profitable delivery system in order to bolster profits for their stockholders. Corporations are not in business to create jobs, become the altruistic benefactor of society, care for the working class, but only to make money for their investors by any means that they can legally achieve, and in some cases illegally without regard to the health and safety of the consumer or the environment. In the following article I will detail egregious examples of how many of our major corporations have partnered up with dictators, despots, and people who we deem to be a threat to our nation.
There has been a continuing trend, since the Reagan years for all branches of government to favor the corporation and financial sectors over the benefits of the purchasing public. The latest decision by a Supreme Court that has been packed by corporate shills such as Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and sometimes Kennedy, who ruled that corporations had the equivalent of “Personhood”, was not the intention of the Founding Fathers, nor does this decision inure to the benefit of an open and working democracy. We are seeing corporate favoritism in deference to the benefits of the mass electorate when it comes to consumer protections, stewardship of the environment, and tax payer paid corporate socialism when corporations fail, but free market capitalism when they make money.
My objective is not to malign corporations as a final objective, but rather to bring to the attention of the public that a corporation is like a venomous snake or killer shark that should be watched closely and regulated with reasonable boundaries so that it causes little harm to the public. Corporations should not be allowed to merge and become so big that their financial failure would cause a major disaster to our economy. Snakes, sharks, and corporations perform a useful purpose in society and should not be exterminated, but reasonably contained and regulated.
Corporations, bankers, and even labor unions form favored alliances that do not always benefit the public, with government that we characterize as “Crony Capitalism”. Wars, defense networks, and even the welfare state create a means to transfer tax payer dollars, not necessarily at will, but many times through fear and threats into hands of the corporate denizens. The populace many times will cry out in frustrated reaction to government legislation by demonizing politicians with the word Socialist, Marxist, Communist, or even Fascist many times not really understanding the true definition of the concept or ideology. As with all government stakeholder projects, they were not done by the government, they were done by private companies with funding from the government. This is one crucial difference between fascist economies and socialist economies. In a fascist economy public taxation is used to funnel money to private corporations through the government, whereas in a socialist economy like that of the Soviet Union there is no taxation and industry itself is run by the government for profit.
Corporations have no or little commitment to ideology, patriotism, nationalism, or humanity; they move their capital, hire and fire workers in any country that can maximize their bottom line. As a public relations gesture in order to make their products, services, or branding appear positive and attractive, they will emphasize a few gratuitous positive gestures as a means to gain increased market share.
Some of the primary and more famous American companies and individuals that were involved with the Fascist regimes of Europe are: William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy (JFK's father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon (head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush, National City Bank, Coca-Cola, and General Electric.
I.G. Farben was critical in the development of the German economy and war machine leading up to WWII. During this time I.G. Farben's international holdings along with its international business contracts with companies like Standard Oil, DuPont, Alcoa, and Dow Chemical were crucial in supplying the Nazi regime with the materials needed for war, as well as financial support.
Ford and GM supplied European Fascists with trucks and equipment, as well as investing money in I.G. Farben plants. Standard Oil supplied the fascists with fuel. US Steel and Alcoa supplied them with critically needed metals. American banks gave them billions of dollars worth of loans. American banks and businesses continued to support the Fascist regimes of Europe legally up until the day Germany declared war on America and the activities were stopped under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Despite this, some companies and individuals still maintained a business relationship with the Third Reich.
In Germany, for example, General Motors and Ford became an integral part of the Nazi war efforts. GM's plants in Germany built thousands of bomber and jet fighter propulsion systems for the Luftwaffe at the same time that its American plants produced aircraft engines for the U.S. Army Air Corps....

Ford was also active in Nazi Germany's prewar preparations. In 1938, for instance, it opened a truck assembly plant in Berlin whose "real purpose," according to U.S. Army Intelligence, was producing "troop transport-type" vehicles for the Wehrmacht. That year Ford's chief executive received the Nazi German Eagle (first class)....

After the cessation of hostilities, GM and Ford demanded reparations from the U.S. Government for wartime damages sustained by their Axis facilities as a result of Allied bombing... Ford received a little less than $1 million, primarily as a result of damages sustained by its military truck complex at Cologne...

Due to their multinational dominance of motor vehicle production, GM and Ford became principal suppliers for the forces of fascism as well as for the forces of democracy. It may, of course, be argued that participating in both sides of an international conflict, like the common corporate practice of investing in both political parties before an election, is an appropriate corporate activity. Had the Nazis won, General Motors and Ford would have appeared impeccably Nazi; as Hitler lost, these companies were able to re-emerge impeccably American. In either case, the viability of these corporations and the interests of their respective stockholders would have been preserved.
Perhaps one of the most egregious contributors to the Nazi cause was IBM under the direction of Thomas J. Watson. IBM knowingly helped to setup Nazi census databases through the use of data sorting machines that enabled the Nazis to carry out the Holocaust in a way that they would not have otherwise been able to. Point blank, IBM increased the size and scope of the Holocaust, and did it for profit." Thomas Watson was awarded a medal by Adolph Hitler for his role in assisting in the Nazi regime, and Watson expressed, "the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people, and their leader Adolph Hitler." He also expressed, "the highest esteem for Hitler, his country, and his people."
After WWII, corporations such as United Fruit, ITT, BP, Chevron, DuPont, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bechtel, Shell, and many others have been complicit in over throwing democratically elected governments in other countries in order to continue their oppression, rape the land of natural resources, and keep the indigenous populations in slaved in sub-standard wage conditions.
It is easy to put all the blame for a lack of ethical and moral behavior just on the corporations who support Fascist policies, but we as ordinary citizens are also complicit in being part of Fascist policies. We can mostly agree that the corporation is about profit, not compassion, fairness, humanity, or stewardship of the environment. When we own stock in these corporations, supply these companies, work for banks that lend to these companies, seek employment with these companies, or buy their products or services we are culpable participants in furthering Fascism. When we vote, we need to be cognizant of politicians who are owned by Big Business and avoid them. One of the most critical decisions one can make as a voter is who will or will not appoint judges that are owned by corporations. We as ordinary citizens need to set a benchmark for ethical behavior before we jump to just accuse the “Fat Cats” and politicians.