Fascism takes the form of whichever ideology at the time best enables their ideas. During the lead-up to Nazi Germany, they called themselves social. They made an alliance with the Soviet Union (because it was convenient) and it furthered their goal. They surrounded their rhetoric with vaguely socialist wording, while all the time their main goal was always the formation of a totalitarian state. They never cared about economics as long as they could kill other people.
I almost never quote Hitler, for many obvious reasons, but in this case, he described the economics of fascism so succinctly, there really is no one else I can quote which makes their economic policy so clear. When you want to learn something in social sciences… go to the source.
“The basic feature of our economic theory is that we have no theory at all” ~ Adolf freaking Hitler
Today in America, the fascist movement has taken over the Republican Party, they wrap a thin veil of libertarianism and anti-government, anti-tax hysteria, and how the government is “coming for your money” so you need to elect them to power for their “small government” of a police-state surveillance system, travel restrictions, all the while those who are in power can walk away with government money through tax breaks, subsidies, and government contracts.
This is the basic fact of the economics of fascism and why it is so hard to pinpoint fascism as right-wing or left-wing on the economics spectrum. It is truly a syncretic movement when it comes to economics, and extreme right-wing when it comes to social policy). You can go spend years of your life reading through complex economic texts talking about the economy of Nazi Germany… and if that’s your thing, go for it. But all you really need to know is what is in the already existing Wikipedia Article, Economics of fascism. When you read through this article you will find that very succinct quote by that butcher of millions Adolf Hitler. He didn’t care about economic ideology, he was just a bloodthirsty monster. When hiding money in Swiss Banks and buying goods from American megacorporations furthered his goal of exterminating as many Jews, Roma, and queers as possible, he did business with American and Swiss corporations. When he saw Stalin massacre 14 million Ukrainians with no regard for life in the 30s he had no misgivings or hesitation of allying with Russia to further his goals of invading Poland, which had been a relatively safe haven for Jews for several centuries up to that point in time. He didn’t care about the means, he only cared about killing people.
We find the same thing when it comes to the modern Republican party. For programs they view as giving money to people of color, they rail against those economic programs with calls for austerity. When it comes to sending more money to the military, which then sells military-grade weapons to police departments which then disproportionately use those weapons against people of color, the Republicans declare the excessive military spending which buys weapons that the military doesn’t even have room to store as mandatory spending. They are libertarians when it comes to helping poor people, and socialists when it comes to further bloating already extreme military budgets. The Republican Party doesn’t really have a succinct economic plan nowadays asides from killing brown people and is becoming syncretic.
They do not care about the deficit, they have not truly cared about inflation or unemployment in over 40 years, and they only care about reaping as much money in this country for their rich donors as possible.
The economic theory of the Republican party is that they really have no economic theory at all.
But their social policy becomes more and more right-wing every year. I see no end in sight to their radicalization.