Irony: Nazi’s Warned the US About Their Economic Mistakes

Added to the chapter in my life I can only call “cruel ironies,” I received a mises.org update this morning, and read an article previewing Thomas DiLorenzo’s new book, Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government. One of the quotes from the article hit me like a cruel, relentless joke.

From Nazi leader, Hermann Goering

“Your America is doing many things in the economic field which we found out caused us so much trouble. You are trying to control peoples’ wages and prices — peoples’ work. If you do that you must control peoples’ lives. And no country can do that part way. I tried and it failed. Nor can any country do it all the way either. I tried that too and it failed. You are no better planners than we. I should think your economists would read what happened here.”

DiLorenzo is quoting an interview Goering did with American journalist, Henry Taylor.

I created a Goering photo with this quote on Facebook, so it’s ready for sharing if interested – click here.

As for the ideas that flow through DiLorenzo’s book and even Goering’s statement – I know I shouldn’t be, but every so often I’m just shocked at the ignorance of our elected officials. How can they not see that central planning, central banking and a Keynesian approach to the economy has been tried in the past and it keeps failing?

How hard is it to just return to the prosperity formula? We know it works: personal freedom + economic freedom = prosperity.

The irony in this whole Goering quote is that it’s the Nazis calling the US out on stupidity. A leader in one of the most evil regimes the world has ever seen, observed America headed down his same path to destruction and tried to warn them.

In fact, it’s beyond irony. It’s disgraceful and embarrassing. We didn’t value our free market system enough to keep it free. Instead, we willingly chose their totalitarian model. The US destroys the Nazis, and then starts emulating their economic model – using the same central planning methods, economic controls and corporate statism/crony crap that led Germany to becoming a totalitarian state the murdered millions.

One final irony: this central planning, these economic controls – this socialist system that led to tyranny and horrors of the worst kind. These are the concepts that people now call “progressive.” This is what we want? A society driven by a pursuit of collectivist ideals that necessarily destroys all individual rights as a condition of its existence. No way.

I don’t know what else to say besides we have to run as far from this world view as possible. What dangerous water to tread.

If interested in reading the review on DiLorenzo’s book or purchasing a copy, here is a link to the mises article, DiLorenzo Devastates the State.