Quote of the Day
by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs - Tyranny
Indeed. Evidently we have learned nothing in the past 2,067 years.
It has often been said, "The more things change the more they same the same." Apparently it is true.
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs - Tyranny
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced,
the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.
People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance."
Cicero , 55 BC
Indeed. Evidently we have learned nothing in the past 2,067 years.
It has often been said, "The more things change the more they same the same." Apparently it is true.
And the current Boehner-Obama kabuki won't solve anything, no matter how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteWe are 16 trillion in debt and adding more than one trillion per year, and they are arguing over 100 billion per year in new taxes and 100 billion in spending cuts, so after all the fuss and bother, they've trimmed the toenails when the foot needs to be amputated.
The trend will continue until it no longer can.
"The trend will continue until it no longer can."
ReplyDeleteThat's really that way it is, and I can't imagine saying it any better.
Eventually the military state must come to an end, eventually we have to pay our bills, and eventually the rising economies around the world will force us to rethink the way we do trade and invest in ourselves. Once things get so bad that we simply can't pay the bills anymore, these things will come to pass.
JMJ
So, you're saying is? Gut the military completely? Your apparent one sided view is every bit as bewildering as the other sides one sided view.
DeleteLet go of the empire ditty jmj, it grows old. But yes, the military industrial complex does need a pruning, and we simple must curtail dramatically our foreign involvement around the world. That goes for foreign aid as well.
LOL! It got old for the Romans too, Les.
DeleteNo one is saying gut the military. But we could easily reduce it by half, at the very least.
JMJ
If people like you had not voted for and supported the Republican idiocy of tax cuts without spending cuts since 1982, we wouldn't be in this mess. Yes, take your part of the blame
ReplyDeleteSince you so enjoy pointing fingers take yours as well.
DeleteWhen I read the quote, I became suspicious. Did some research on the 'net:
ReplyDeleteIn a letter to The Chicago Tribune (20 April 1971), John H. Collins, Professor of History at Northern Illinois University, reported that the following attribution to Cicero,
Quote:
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. The mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence.
actually originated in A Pillar of Iron (1965), Taylor Caldwell's fictionalized account of the life of the senator. (In fact, Collins noted that it was on page 483 of the edition he had in hand.)
Collins held that the alleged quotation "is totally without documentation," and that "the great bulk of [Caldwell's] quotations are false." He further observed that "[a] historical novelist has a perfect right to put invented conversations and anecdotes into a novel, but should not represent these inventions as authentic history."
From Snopes
and HERE.
Thanks for your verification. It seems whenever I fail to verify something like this I find myself wishing I had. :-(
DeleteThat aside, the fundamental truth of the statement can't be denied. Certainly not IMNHO.
Shaw,
DeleteNice research. I've no reason to disbelieve your findings, but I do wonder who is Snoping Snopes? I mean, who is making sure they are legit?
Either way, like Les said, the fundamental truth of this fictional statement still rings today.
And I am being serious about your doing research on this. Nicely done.
Raising the top tax-rate on people making over $200,000 ($250,000 for families) a year from 35% to 39.6% would only net the treasury (providing that it doesn't negatively effect the economy) $70-80 billion a year. The deficit is currently $1.1 trillion. To say that Mr. Obama is lacking seriousness on this issue is an understatement.
ReplyDeleteSo it seems Will, so it seems. But in fairness it seems there is not a lot of seriousness anywhere.
DeleteThe sad thing is that you and I could probably sit down and hammer out a 3-4 trillion dollar debt/deficit reduction package and not even break a sweat about it.......And, get this, according to the Cato Institute's, Dan Mitchell, all that the federal government really has to do is limit the growth of government to 2-2.5% a year and within 10-12 years the deficit would go away by itself - with no tax increases.
DeleteJersey: Slash the DoD to zero and we would still have a deficit. Now what?
ReplyDelete