The Economics of Fascism: Supporters Summit 2005

Whenever the fascists came to power in Europe, they banned the work of the Austrian economists. The reason: the Austrians wrote as vehemently against “right-wing” central planning as against old-fashioned left-wing socialism. While many are alert to the dangers of socialism, far fewer know of the danger of fascism, which might be defined as economic regimentation toward monopolized state capitalism.

The word fascism is so often used as a swear word that we might sometimes forget that it really did exist as a system of political economy, and it continues to exist as a policy tendency. Like socialism, it took on different forms in different countries. Its spirit continues to exert a huge influence on the organization of economic life today.

As in the 1930s, it is assumed that the economy must be managed by the either the right or the left: socialism or fascism is our choice. Just as important, fascist-style thinking has experienced resurgence. One is just as likely today to find critics of the market economy on the right as on the left. Whereas the left wants to wreck the free market for the sake of equality and fairness, the right wants central planning for war, cultural renewal, and national pride. Both choices come at the expense of liberty.

Once again, it seems that the Austrians alone offer a consistent alternative to the newly fashionable system of economic control.

Join us at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit 2005, October 7-8, Auburn, Alabama. The senior and adjunct faculty will discuss the history, theory, and contemporary meaning of the fascist temptation, and what the Austrian economists are doing to combat it.  Sessions begin at 1:00pm Central Time on Friday, continue all day Saturday, and conclude with dinner on Saturday.

Your registration fee of $235 (per person, or $395 per couple) includes the full conference, hearty reception on Friday, plus reception and black-tie dinner on Saturday, where William Peterson—student, friend, and colleague of Ludwig von Mises and prolific scholar—will be awarded the Schlarbaum Prize.

Full-time students (graduate or undergraduate) may apply for tuition scholarships.

Speakers include:

• David Gordon (Mises Review)
• Hans-Hermann Hoppe (University of Nevada)
• Thomas Woods (author, historian)
• Paul Gottfried (Elizabethtown College)
• Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
• Thomas DiLorenzo (Loyola College)
• Robert Higgs (Independent Review)
• Joseph Salerno (Pace University)
• Butler Shaffer (Southwestern University School of Law)
• Jörg Guido Hülsmann (University of Angers, France
• George Reisman (Pepperdine University)
• Llewellyn H.Rockwell, Jr. (Mises Institute)
• Robert Murphy (Hillsdale College)
• Ralph Raico (Buffalo State College)
• William H. Peterson (Washington, DC)
• William L. Anderson (Frostburg State University)
• Gary G. Schlarbaum (Schlarbaum Capital)

Friday, October 7

• 12:30 and 1:00 p.m. Shuttles from Auburn University Hotel to Mises Institute
• 1:00 Registration and Refreshments
• 1:30 “Welcome”  James Fogal (Mises Institute)
• 1:45 “The Austrians on Fascism: Hayek, Mises, and Roepke” David Gordon (Mises Institute)
• 2:15 “Thoughts on Fascism” Ralph Raico (Buffalo State College)
• 2:45 break
• 3:00 “Quasi-Corporatism: America’s Home-grown Fascism” Robert Higgs (Independent Review)
• 3:30 “Fascism, Anti-Fascism, and the Welfare State” Paul Gottfried (Elizabethtown College)
• 4:00 break
• 4:15 “The New Vampire Economy: Banks and the Socialization of Investment” Jeffrey Herbener (Grove City College)
• 4:45 “The Economic Doctrine of the Nazis” Hans-Hermann Hoppe (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
• 5:15 break
• 5:30 “Katrina and Socialist Central Planning”  Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. (Mises Institute)
• 6:30 Reception, featuring the Auburn Recorder Trio
• (dinner on your own)
• 8:00 Concert in the Ward Conservatory: The Solo Cello Suites of J.S. Bach. Cellist: Karl Bennion, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, NY, and principal cello of the Brandenburg Ensemble. He  is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music where he studied cello with Harvey Shapiro and chamber music with Felix Galimir and Robert Mann.
• 7:30 and 9:00 p.m.  Shuttles from Mises Institute to Auburn University Hotel

Saturday, October 8

• 8:15 and 8:30 a.m.  Shuttles from Auburn University Hotel to Mises Institute
• 8:30 Coffee
• 9:00 “Mises.org vs. The State” Jeffrey Tucker  (Mises Institute)
• 9:30 “The Cry for Security” Robert Murphy (Hillsdale College)
• 10:00 break
• 10:15 “The Economic Model of the Fascist State” Thomas DiLorenzo (Loyola College)
• 10:45 “The Business Class vs. The Free Market: Episodes from History” Butler Shaffer (Southwestern University School of Law)
• 11:15 break
• 11:30 “The Keynesian and Chicago School’s Early Infatuation with Fascism” Joseph Salerno (Pace University)
• 12:00 “The Right and the Fuhrerprinzip ” Thomas Woods (Suffolk Community College)
• 12:30 lunch on your own
• 12:45 - 1:45 “New Tax Strategies for Giving” (optional seminar) James Fogal (Mises Institute).  Hogan Seminar Room (upstairs from Ward Library).  Boxed lunches provided. 
• 2:00 “The Anti-Ethics of Economic Regimentation” Walter Block (Loyola University, New Orleans)
• 2:30 “They Saw it Coming: The 19th-Century Libertarian Critique of Fascism” Roderick T. Long (Auburn University)
• 3:00 break
• 3:15 “Why Nazism Was Socialism and Why Socialism is Totalitarian” George Reisman (Pepperdine University)
• 3:45 “The Dynamics of Fascism: Variations on a Theme by Mises” Jorg Guido Hulsmann (University of Paris, Angers)
• 4:15 break and tours
• 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.  Shuttles from Mises Institute to Auburn University Hotel every 15 minutes, with the last shuttle leaving Mises Institute at 5:30
• 6:00 Reception (Ballroom A, Dixon Conference Center of Auburn University Hotel)
• 7:00 Dinner

    Remarks by Gary G. Schlarbaum (Schlarbaum Capital Management), Burton Blumert (Mises Institute), and William L. Anderson (Frostburg State University); “Mises in New York” William Peterson, Schlarbaum Prize Winner 2005; followed by Songs of the Mises Circle, with Noah Tyler and Arlene Oost-Zinner