S
Smee
Guest
Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation—"It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?"
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our government spending . . . bailouts, taxes to pay for those bailouts, higher taxes on the wealthy, welfare, etc.
Suppose it cost $200 to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings $200 to the glazier's trade — that it encourages that trade to the amount of $200 — I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his $200, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent $200 upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his $200 in some way, which this accident has prevented.
Similarly, this mortgaging of our GRANDCHILDREN'S FUTURE, will not in any way STIMULATE future growth but rather PREVENT that growth from being able to occur.
Now, I'm no fan of Bill Gates, but he has contributed to the growth of our country with his software products. Are we mortgaging the future of the next Bill Gates? What wonderful things are we taking away from future generations by this "bailout fever"?
How many trillion will we be able to withstand before it deprives us of ANY incentives for our young people to work hard? The promise to LOWER TAXES on 95% of Americans isn't extending to me, and I make less than $30k per year. It's just smoke and mirrors. When you raise fuel taxes, my taxes go up. When you raise sales (VAT - Value Added Taxes), you raise my taxes. When you raise FICA, Medicare, etc., it raises my taxes. And what did I get out of it? Just over $13 per week.
The TRUTH of the matter, all things being examined, does not come down to whether YOU are better off . . . or you see yourself being better off in 4 years --- Are your CHILDREN, your GRANDCHILDREN and even GREAT GRANDCHILDREN will be better off, strapped with all of this debt? And one more thing . . .
If something comes up in the next generation or the following one, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO BE ABLE TO COPE? The taxes will already be so high as to prevent more borrowing since more taxes will encroach even more on them.
Glad our parents and grandparents didn't saddle us with something like this farce!
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our government spending . . . bailouts, taxes to pay for those bailouts, higher taxes on the wealthy, welfare, etc.
Suppose it cost $200 to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings $200 to the glazier's trade — that it encourages that trade to the amount of $200 — I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his $200, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, "Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen."
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent $200 upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his $200 in some way, which this accident has prevented.
Similarly, this mortgaging of our GRANDCHILDREN'S FUTURE, will not in any way STIMULATE future growth but rather PREVENT that growth from being able to occur.
Now, I'm no fan of Bill Gates, but he has contributed to the growth of our country with his software products. Are we mortgaging the future of the next Bill Gates? What wonderful things are we taking away from future generations by this "bailout fever"?
How many trillion will we be able to withstand before it deprives us of ANY incentives for our young people to work hard? The promise to LOWER TAXES on 95% of Americans isn't extending to me, and I make less than $30k per year. It's just smoke and mirrors. When you raise fuel taxes, my taxes go up. When you raise sales (VAT - Value Added Taxes), you raise my taxes. When you raise FICA, Medicare, etc., it raises my taxes. And what did I get out of it? Just over $13 per week.
The TRUTH of the matter, all things being examined, does not come down to whether YOU are better off . . . or you see yourself being better off in 4 years --- Are your CHILDREN, your GRANDCHILDREN and even GREAT GRANDCHILDREN will be better off, strapped with all of this debt? And one more thing . . .
If something comes up in the next generation or the following one, HOW ARE THEY GOING TO BE ABLE TO COPE? The taxes will already be so high as to prevent more borrowing since more taxes will encroach even more on them.
Glad our parents and grandparents didn't saddle us with something like this farce!
