Lew: Gerard Swope was the architect of the NRA (which was the keystone of FDR’s New Deal). Swope laid out the skeleton of this state-enforced cartel arrangement in 1931, in a speech to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Known – not surprisngly – as the “Swope Plan,” it proposed a system of government-enforced trade practice and pricing standards that most members of the business community whooped up as the NRA from 1933 until its Supreme Court-imposed death in 1935. (More details can be found in my IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE book.)
Just think of how much more liberty we would be enjoying were it not for the role played by General Electric (is it still the largest national defense contractor?), its dominant ownership interests in the National Braodcasting Company, and the efforts of its corporate leaders to expand state control over the economy!
