Corporate Socialism

The fascist model embraces state control of industry while maintaining private ownership of industry. Favorite corporations are allowed favored treatment under the rules. Granting special status—and the profits that follow—is the major means by which government gets corporate management to go along.

It works like this:

Last month, the Obama EPA began enforcing new rules regulating the greenhouse gas emissions from any new or expanded power plants. This week, the EPA issued its first exemption, Environment & Energy News reports:

The Obama administration will spare a stalled power plant project in California from the newest federal limits on greenhouse gases and conventional air pollution, U.S. EPA says in a new court filing that marks a policy shift in the face of industry groups and Republicans accusing the agency of holding up construction of large industrial facilities.

According to a declaration by air chief Gina McCarthy, officials reviewed EPA policies and decided it was appropriate to "grandfather" projects such as the Avenal Power Center, a proposed 600-megawatt power plant in the San Joaquin Valley, so they are exempted from rules such as new air quality standards for smog-forming nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

There's something interesting about the Avenal Power Center:

The proposed Avenal Energy project will be a combined-cycle generating plant consisting of two natural gas-fired General Electric 7FA Gas Turbines with Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and one General Electric Steam Turbine.

Maybe GE CEO Jeff Immelt's closeness to President Obama, and his broad support for Obama's agenda, had nothing to do with this exemption.

Yeah, and the stupid lightbulb mandate that Bush signed wasn’t also a grant to GE, a primary manufacturer of compact fluorescents. That may have been crony capitalism, just as the Progressives asserted. But when crony capitalism is broadened and deepened, it becomes fascism.

Heil Barry!

H/T: Maggie’s Farm