Mario Palmieri's "The Philosophy of Fascism" (1936) Described Ideas Remarkably Similar to those Promoted by the New Dealers

The New Deal was the American version of the collectivist trend that became fashionable around the world, so it perhaps shouldn't be surprising that New Deal utterances by FDR and his advisers sometimes sounded similar to fascist doctrines associated with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. This, of course, was before Mussolini launched an aggressive foreign policy and allied with Hitler. Mario Palmieri's The Philosophy of Fascism (1936), published in Chicago by the Dante Alighieri Society, described ideas remarkably similar to those promoted by the New Dealers: "Economic initiatives cannot be left to the arbitrary decisions of private, individual interests. Open competition, if not wisely directed and restricted, actually destroys wealth instead of creating it. . . . The proper function of the State in the Fascist system is that of supervising, regulating and arbitrating the relationships of capital and labor, employers and employees, individuals and associations, private interests and national interests. . . . More important than the production of wealth is its right distribution, distribution which must benefit in the best possible way all the classes of the nation, hence, the nation itself. Private wealth belongs not only to the individual, but, in a symbolic sense, to the State as well."

Like FDR, Mussolini believed that individualism was old-fashioned, an obstacle to progress. Palmieri quoted Mussolini as saying, "Anti-individualistic, the Fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with those of the State." Again, Mussolini: "Liberty is not a right but a duty . . . the individual, left to himself, unless he be a saint or a hero, always refuses to pay taxes, obey laws or go to war."

--Jim Powell, FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003), Kindle e-book.

The Glass-Steagall Act Did Not Change the Most Important Weakness of the American Banking System

While breaking up big universal banks, the Glass-Steagall Act had no impact on the small unit banks that failed by the thousands. These banks typically didn't engage in corporate underwriting. Incredibly, as Benston noted, the Glass-Steagall Act "did not change the most important weakness of the American banking system—unit banking within states and the prohibition of nationwide banking." In fact, he says, "This structure is considered the principal reason for the failure of so many U.S. banks, some 90 percent of which were unit banks with under $2 million of assets."

--Jim Powell, FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression (New York: Crown Forum, 2003), 64.