In an effort to pare down my library of books and make room for new volumes I have been listing duplicates, previously read, and books I no longer want for sale on Amazon. Interestingly enough I came across this passage from a 1st edition 1947 printing of Kenneth Roberts book "Lydia Bailey." Needless to say, it is no longer on the Amazon sell list.
"I'm not over-enthusiastic about books that teach or preach, but I may as well admit in the beginning that my primary reason for writing this book was to teach as many as possible of those who come after me how much hell and ruin are inevitably brought on innocent people and innocent countries by men who make a virtue of consistency.
All the great villains and small villains whom I met so frequently in the events I'm about to set down were consistent men-unimaginative men who consistently believed in war as a means of settling disputes between nations; equally misguided men who consistently believed that war must be avoided at all hazards, no matter what the provocation: narrow men who consistently upheld the beliefs and acts of one political party and saw no good in any other; shortsighted men who consistently refused to see that the welfare of their own nation was dependent up on the welfare of every other nation: ignorant men who consistently thought that the policies of their own government should be supported and followed, whether those policies were right or wrong; dangerous men who consistently thought that all people with black skins are inferior to those with white skins; intolerant men who consistently believed that all people with white skins should be forced to accept all people with black skins as equals. And I know that any nation that cannot or will not avoid the dreadful pitfalls of consistency will be on e with the dead empires whose crumbling monuments studded our battlegrounds in Haiti and in Africa."
It's not often that I read fiction, however I'll be making an exception in this case.
-Joseph Graves
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Words of wisdom
Excellent insight into the housing/financial crisis, remarkably so given that is was first published in 1946, excerpted from the book "Economics in One Lesson," by Henry Hazlitt
"The Case against government-guaranteed loans and mortgages to private businesses and persons is almost as strong as, though less obvious than, the case against direct government loans and mortgages. The advocates of government-guaranteed mortgages also forget that what is being lent is ultimately real capital, which is limited in supply, and that they are helping identified (person) B at the expense of some unidentified (person) A. Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to "buy" houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of the homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment."
Every person in America should read this book, but at the very least all elected and appointed officials. I wonder if it would have made a difference in our economy over the last 50 years?
-Joe
"The Case against government-guaranteed loans and mortgages to private businesses and persons is almost as strong as, though less obvious than, the case against direct government loans and mortgages. The advocates of government-guaranteed mortgages also forget that what is being lent is ultimately real capital, which is limited in supply, and that they are helping identified (person) B at the expense of some unidentified (person) A. Government-guaranteed home mortgages, especially when a negligible down payment or no down payment whatever is required, inevitably mean more bad loans than otherwise. They force the general taxpayer to subsidize the bad risks and to defray the losses. They encourage people to "buy" houses that they cannot really afford. They tend eventually to bring about an oversupply of houses as compared with other things. They temporarily overstimulate building, raise the cost of building for everybody (including the buyers of the homes with the guaranteed mortgages), and may mislead the building industry into an eventually costly overexpansion. In brief, in the long run they do not increase overall national production but encourage malinvestment."
Every person in America should read this book, but at the very least all elected and appointed officials. I wonder if it would have made a difference in our economy over the last 50 years?
-Joe
Friday, July 17, 2009
Do you deserve liberty?
We are barely seven generations removed from what I consider to be the "greatest generation." The founding fathers, brothers, and sons who suffered immeasurably; sacrificing their lives, comfort, and wealth to make possible the freedoms that we, their spoiled and ignorant posterity now freely discard.
I cringe each time I hear someone state "I don't get involved in politics" or other similar comment as if it were a display of virtue. I estimate many, if not most Americans spend more time in front of a television on a single weekend than they spend all year learning about government, politics, or just plain thinking. The American dream once stood for the opportunity to pursue happiness, along with the other unalienable rights of Life and Liberty. Our system of government was intended to give people the freedom to live as they wished, provided it didn't impinge on the unalienable rights of others. That opportunity is no longer a reality.
Greed, selfishness, and good intentions have all convoluted the intentions of the leaders who birthed our country. Democracy only works if citizens are both educated on the workings of government and are respectful of the rights of others. Uninformed citizens, or the "mob" as H.L. Mencken referred to them, will almost always regress to the lowest common denominator, electing and voting their way to ignorant oblivion. Which, if not for the rest of the population being taken down with them is not disadvantageous. Alexis de Tocqueville remarked "Democracy in America is doomed when the people learn to vote themselves money from the public trough...", something we've increasingly been doing since the New Deal, plunging our country into deeper debt, and ultimately abdicating our freedoms in the process.
We do not need more laws or regulation, bailouts or cash for clunkers, and perhaps most importantly we do not need to make the world safe for democracy. What would be constructive is for citizens to be responsible for themselves and allow others to do the same. What are you doing (or are going to do) to become a productive member of our country and attempt to slow the devolution of our society. Democracy needs virtuous people to survive, are we too far gone?
-Joe
I cringe each time I hear someone state "I don't get involved in politics" or other similar comment as if it were a display of virtue. I estimate many, if not most Americans spend more time in front of a television on a single weekend than they spend all year learning about government, politics, or just plain thinking. The American dream once stood for the opportunity to pursue happiness, along with the other unalienable rights of Life and Liberty. Our system of government was intended to give people the freedom to live as they wished, provided it didn't impinge on the unalienable rights of others. That opportunity is no longer a reality.
Greed, selfishness, and good intentions have all convoluted the intentions of the leaders who birthed our country. Democracy only works if citizens are both educated on the workings of government and are respectful of the rights of others. Uninformed citizens, or the "mob" as H.L. Mencken referred to them, will almost always regress to the lowest common denominator, electing and voting their way to ignorant oblivion. Which, if not for the rest of the population being taken down with them is not disadvantageous. Alexis de Tocqueville remarked "Democracy in America is doomed when the people learn to vote themselves money from the public trough...", something we've increasingly been doing since the New Deal, plunging our country into deeper debt, and ultimately abdicating our freedoms in the process.
We do not need more laws or regulation, bailouts or cash for clunkers, and perhaps most importantly we do not need to make the world safe for democracy. What would be constructive is for citizens to be responsible for themselves and allow others to do the same. What are you doing (or are going to do) to become a productive member of our country and attempt to slow the devolution of our society. Democracy needs virtuous people to survive, are we too far gone?
-Joe
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