| Then | Now |
| “…In all times some might be rich, some poore, some highe and eminent in power and dignitie, otheres meane and in subjection.” Governor John Winthrop, Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1630 |
The Left uses the declining relative prices of many amenities to argue that it’s no big deal that poor households have air conditioning, computers, cable TV and widescreen televisions. They argue that even though most poor families have a house full of modern conveniences, the average poor family still suffers from substantial deprivation in basic needs such as food and housing. Robert Rector, Rachel Sheffield, The Heritage Foundation, Understanding Poverty in the U.S. |
| “By 1770, the top 1 percent of property owners owned 44 percent of the wealth.” Zinn, p. 48 |
“:..by 1995, that richest 1 percent had gained over $1 trillion and now owned over 40% of the nation’s wealth.” Zinn, p. 662 |
| “I am of the opinion…that the manufacturing aristocracy which is growing up under our eyes is one of the harshest that ever existed…. The friends of democracy should keep their eyes anxiously fixed in this direction; for if a permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy… penetrates into (America), it may be predicted that this is the gate by which they will enter.” Alexis de Tocqueville c. 1840 |
The very foundations of the U.S. economy have rotted away and we now find ourselves on the verge of an economic collapse. Already, millions upon millions of Americans are slipping out of the middle class and into the devastating grip of poverty. Statistic after statistic proves that the middle class in the United States is shrinking month after month after month. Michael Snyder, The Economic Collapse, Business Insider |
| “Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people in order to betray them.” Joseph Story, American Lawyer and Jurist, (1779-1845) |
“I think they have a basically correct message that when they say “we are the 99 percent,” that they’re reflecting the fact that the top one percent not only ran away with the prize economically in the last 30 years, but also took the power, manipulated it, twisted it, broke the law. Brought the world economy to its knees actually, and it’s time to correct things. And I think that that’s what Occupy Wall Street is really about. The fact that every marquee firm on Wall Street broke the law in a major way, it’s now paying a series of fines. Some people are going to jail. People are disgusted about this.” Economist Jeffrey Sachs, answering a question about Occupy Wall Street, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Oct. 31, 2011. |
| There was a practice common among English Puritans of “putting out” children–placing them at an early age in other homes where they were treated partly as foster children and partly as apprentices or farm-hands. One of the motivations underlying the maintenance of this custom seems to have been the parents’ desire to avoid the formation of strong emotional bonds with their offspring–bonds that might temper the strictness of the children’s discipline or interfere with their own piety. Various, The Diary of Samuel Sewell, c. 1674-1729 |
“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid, Saying to people you shouldn’t go to work before you’re 14, 16. You’re totally poor, you’re in a school that’s failing with a teacher that’s failing. I tried for years to have a very simple model. These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work; they’d have cash; they’d have pride in the schools. They’d begin the process of rising.” New Gingrich, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate, Nov. 18, 2011, in a speech at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. |
| “America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.” Woodrow Wilson |
“Well, it depends if you’re talking abut the fecal angle, the public masturbation angle, the rape, the grope angle…we’re covering all the circus.” Andrew Breitbart (1969 – 2012), when asked about Occupy Wallstreet. |
| “There is…an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents…. The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous ingredient in government, and provisions should be made to prevent its ascendancy.” Thomas Jefferson |
Who has predominant power in the United States? The short answer, from 1776 to the present, is: Those who have the money — or more specifically, who own income-producing land and businesses — have the power. George Washington was one of the biggest landowners of his day; presidents in the late 19th century were close to the railroad interests; for the Bush family, it was oil and other natural resources, agribusiness, and finance. In this day and age, this means that banks, corporations, agribusinesses, and big real estate developers, working separately on most policy issues, but in combination on important general issues — such as taxes, opposition to labor unions, and trade agreements with other countries — set the rules within which policy battles are waged. Who Rules America?, Professor G. William Domhoff, University of California at Santa Cruz |
| “I don’t believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So while we do not propose any war on capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal change to get rich with everyone else. Abraham Lincoln |
“More than 99% of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at death. Measured by dollars, this commitment is large. In a comparative sense, though, many individuals give more to others every day.” Warren Buffett, 2010 |