Bachmann tied the loss of 'economic liberty' to the killing of six million European Jews. Bachmann compares debt crisis to Holocaust

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Rep. Michele Bachmann invoked the Holocaust Saturday morning as she described the tax burden that America's next generation will face unless action is taken to reduce federal spending and the national debt.

The Minnesota Republican told more than 200 Republicans gathered at a meeting of conservatives that she recalled learning about the Holocaust as a young girl and being horrified that many Americans didn't learn until after World War II that millions of Jews were killed.


Bachmann, careful to note that there was no direct analogy in today's times to the Holocaust, still tied the loss of "economic liberty" that Americans face today to the systematic killing of six million European Jews.

"We are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away," Bachmann said. "It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to."

In a reference to the Obama administration's new health care law, the likely presidential candidate and tea party favorite said creating new entitlement programs that "there was never any hope or chance of being able" to pay for was an exercise in "fantasy economics."

"All of the problems we're facing with debt are manmade problems. We created them. It's called fantasy economics," she told Republicans gathered at Southern New Hampshire University. "Fantasy economics only works in a fantasy world. It doesn't work in reality."

Bachmann was cheered by the audience when she called for a president with a private-sector background.

"It would be fun to have someone in the White House who has worked in the private sector…and someone who understands that wealth creation is a good thing and they want more of it. Wealth is good."

Asked after the speech for her take on the growing national debt, the third-term congresswoman painted a dire picture, saying that America was accumulating debt at "mach speed, on steroids."

Comparing the fiscal situation to the film "Thelma and Louise," Bachmann said the United States was "going over the cliff right now."

Bachmann's remarks were made at the We The People First in the Nation Freedom Forum.