Fascist America?

"I believe the era of democratic free-market capitalism is coming to an end. It is being replaced by state-directed corporatism on a grand scale."

The above are not my words, they are the written words of mainstream economist and CNBC host, Larry Kudlow. "State-directed corporatism on a grand scale" is, of course, fascism. Kudlow knows better than to use the actual F word as a mainstream commentator.

But, make know mistake, he gets it. This is Kudlow on the latest TARP findings:

Is the whole TARP plan a criminal enterprise? Sounds farfetched, I suppose. But after reading about Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky’s report, it may well be that TARP is just one big criminal problem...

By the way, one of Barofsky’s recommendations is for Treasury to abandon its whole plan of buying toxic assets from banks and investors. The IG’s report also notes that what started last October as a single-purpose $750 billion effort to buy toxic securities has morphed into twelve separate programs that cover up to $3 trillion in direct spending, loans, and loan guarantees. In other words, TARP is nearly equal in size to the entire federal budget.

Now, Geithner & Co. has said very little about this. Even in yesterday’s TARP oversight hearing, very little was said about the Barofsky critique. That’s too bad, because this is a crucial area of investigation. TARP is badly in need of reform - or maybe better yet, badly in need of termination.

And this is all written before the Cuomo letter surfaces that shows how Paulson muscled Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis:

The government threatened to oust Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis if the bank didn't go through with its acquisition of struggling investment bank Merrill Lynch, according to the results of an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released Thursday.

Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary at the time, told Lewis in December that the management and board of directors of Bank of America (would be removed if the deal wasn't closed, Cuomo said in a letter summarizing his findings to regulators and legislators.

This is not your grandfather's America.