Its a cliche to blame Hitler and the Nazis on the raw deal that Germany got in the Armistice after the Great War, although no doubt, there's some truth to that. But that does not explain the explosion of Fascist parties and governments that spread across Europe in the first half of the 20th century. And remember, there were fascist sympathies and parties in the New World, too,including the USA. I believe we have to search elsewhere for a cause. The Great Depression did not create Nazism, Hitler predated the market crash, but I am convinced it was the origin of fascism throughout the rest of the world, just as our globalized economy is the driving force today.

I still see fascism as a reaction by a middle class that suddenly sees a period of relative prosperity and optimism falter, and suffers a sudden shift into decline. They have been fed the line that if they just work hard and play by the rules they, or at least their children, will eventually prosper. When the promises fade slowly to lies, they may hold the line for a while, but eventually the frustration takes over. They are desperate for villains, and the demagogues are ready to provide as many as they need. But its not the Hollywood elites or the college lefties that sacked them just before their pension plan kicked in at the coal mine or the steel mill. It was the top-hatted, monacled, frock-coated captains of industry who convinced them to not support their union. And now the plague is spreading up, to lower and middle management, to the administrative, executive and professional classes.

Its not just a glib cliche on my part, fascism IS the dictatorship of the middle class. It ain't the underclass that supported Hitler, or supports Trump. Its those who suddenly find themselves in the underclass, or who are threatened with sliding back into it, or see their kids already floundering in it. As the notes imply, it is the youth of the bourgeosie that leads the charge to the right, not the oppressed masses of the proles.

Its not just here, its all over the world. Automation and global labor markets have devastated the middle classes, and their patience has finally run out. The working man has finally realized he is no longer needed, and no one is going to reward his prior faithful service and industry. Global and national wealth increases along with productivity, but the benefits only seem to flow up. The elites are well positioned to benefit from the new economy, and the underclass are used to being exploited, ignored and forgotten. Its the middle that gets squeezed out; or should I say, down. Not everybody gets to be an entrepreneur.

It would be easy to blame capitalist greed for this sorry state of affairs, but in truth they did not engineer or plan it. Perhaps it is simply the changing times, new technological and economic realities, blah, blah, blah. They simply made sure they weren't the ones to be left behind. But it is the financial elite, the ownership classes, who should have seen this coming and did, or chose, to do nothing, and they were the only ones with the knowledge, ability and resources to do something about it. And they chose not to. In fact, they refuse to admit its anyone's fault but the victims.

I'm not very optimistic about the future. I am old, but relatively comfortable and secure, but if I had children I know they would not get the opportunities I did, or the benefits I now have. And of course, I'm not out of the woods yet. I can only hope the final collapse will come after I'm gone.