The Ten Cannots

en.wikipedia.org...

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."
"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
"You cannot help little men by tearing down big men."
"You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."
"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."
"You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money."
"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred."
"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn."
"You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence."
"And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves."

Also I should add the 'Seven National Crimes'.

I don't think.
I don't know.
I don't care.
I am too busy.
I leave well enough alone.
I have no time to read and find out.
I am not interested.

I may not agree with the politics of this guy completely but I do agree with those statements. While we would disagree on what exactly that means, his statements, we would both agree that everyone should have that fair playing field and you make of it what you can. If you swim then good for you and if you sink that’s too bad. But swimming from inheritance while a man is sinking from poverty is not ‘fair’ either.

Yes! Misior! When can we get you into national office? How many years till you can run for President?
I love this thread. Speaks to me on so many levels.

Originally posted by Misoir
en.wikipedia.org...

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."
"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
"You cannot help little men by tearing down big men."
"You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."
"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."

Sorry, but in case you have not noticed this is merely a homage to one side, The strong, the big men, the wage payer and the rich in my humble opinion.
It is often this group which strives to keep the weak, the little man, the wage earner and the poor exactly where they are.
Elite, NWO, TPTB( come on this is ATS after all )............ Politicians lining their own pockets whilst professing to serve the people, CEO's on ridiculous payouts and bonus for failing, Corporations that destroy new ideas or technology or monopolize markets to destroy smaller opposition, MSM that is driven by advertising revenue that dictates it agenda to serve the advertisers that feed them, rather then report on the real issues, American(as well as the rest of the world) Multinationals that move offshore to exploit cheap labour markets and poor regions full of resources. Banks and financial establishments that willing lent money to thousands and thousands of people who could not afford to repay it, that then on sold the debt as an investment.

Boetckers point is to lift those less haves up to strive to be "the strong, the big men, the wage payer, the rich.
But it seems to me in this day and age, IMHO, to do that, you need to exploit, steal, economically cripple, monopolize or impoverish via debt the weak, the little guy, the wage earner and the poor.

"You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money."

We know. Did anybody think of ensuring Banks remembered that when they leveraged themselves heavily on Credit default swaps and morgage backed funds.
Tell that to the thousands that have burned their 401k in order to survive. They were saving that for sound retirement security because everybody knows that you cannot borrow a retirement fund to secure you in old age.

"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred."

Neither can you ensure it via out dated quotes that now merely look like conventional conservative propaganda.

"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn."

Well, technically you can. It is just a matter of making sure you can push the trouble onto someone else.
That someone else is usually the weak, the little guy, the wage earner and the poor.
For a recent example see Bank Bailouts.

"You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence."

I agree.
"And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves."
Wise words. But then again, a lot of what I see happening is that people are helping themselves a great lot at the expense of empowering other to do the same for themselves.
That is why we had these bubbles and crashes.
Just a few People creating wealth for themselves, lets face it, we are seeing that a lot.

The quotes make sense, on their own.
But in reality when you think of the actions of the strong, the big man, the rich.
You can understand people wanting to make them a little bit weaker, and lit less big and a little poorer in the hope that some others might just have a chance at it themselves.

Cool post. S and F.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
Yes! Misior! When can we get you into national office? How many years till you can run for President?
I love this thread. Speaks to me on so many levels.

I would like to state I could never be elected because I wouldn't sell myself out to special interests.

BUMP

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift."
A: How can people be thrifty when they are not paid enough to even cover food, shelter and medical care. Most people now live hand to mouth and this is excluding, taking vacations, eating out, having a big SUV and or home.

"You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong."
A: What about when the strong do not pay their full share due to “loop holes” and taking advantage of the weak.

"You cannot help little men by tearing down big men."
A: What if the big men are tearing down the little man and his family by unjust wage scales, outsourcing, insourcing, tax loopholes, etc.

"You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer."
A: The difference in wages between the wage payer and the wage payee is now so drastically out of proportion in America, it’s not funny. While some are paid more money than they can spend in several lifetimes to “manage” the real workers, the people who actually do the work, make barely enough to live on. Many with no medical, dental or retirement benefits. Sorry but when some people pay $2000. For a pair of shoes and others can’t even afford shoes that’s wrong.

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich."
A: The rich aren't being destroyed, they have more money than they could ever spend. They are now instead of using it to hire people, they are using their money to buy other companies and put their competitors out of business, thereby putting people out of work. The “wealth” needs to be more evenly distributed………the CEO’s give themselves 10% raises every year while the person who does the real work gets little or no raise. And if the CEO outsources his company’s jobs he gets a bonus while the “poor” become poorer now being unemployed.

You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money."
A: The money we are borrowing has been steadily going towards tax cuts for the rich and funding the two wars. Which do you want to get rid of?

"You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.”
A: Asking for balance distribution of wealth is not hating it's fairness. Yep, let’s keep the masses dumbed down so the rich can keep getting away with legal plundering. We wouldn’t want the common man to figure out how much he is getting screwed.

"You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn."
A: Tell that to our country and politicians hell bent on funding the war machine/military vs our education, youth and social services to enrich not destroy mankind. Many people spend more than they earn because they are not earning enough compared to the “elite” that have so much money, they don’t know what to do with it. Actors that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars come to mind.

"You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence."
A: Right, let every man sink or swim on his/her own, even if they were never paid a just salary, their pensions were stolen out from under them, or they have to pay $50. For a bottle of pills that cost under $5.00 to manufacture………….so big pharma’s CEO’s can make a 95% profit.

“And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.”
A:Tell that to my two autistic sons who wouldn’t understand you, the two Gulf vets with PTS I serve meals too and millions of others that have multiple disabilities both mentally and physically and didn’t have the advantages, breaks and salary the person coming up with this hogwash evidently had.

No, I don't believe that people who are capable should be allowed to sit around and uselessly collect money.

But while American companies keep outsourcing and insourcing labor to keep the wages low for "pion" workers the CEO's and Company Owners keep getting richer and richer.

The original post in my opinion is BS...........Something some rich elitist thought up to dumb down the masses and keep the "pions" in line.

The middle class in America is systematically being dismatled. The rich are getting richer and the middle class now along with the poor are being screwed over.

I think.
I know.
I care.
I am never to busy to take up a just cause and fight for justice.
I do not leave well enough alone. I plunge right on in there with the best of them, fists fighting.
I read constantly. My first day of 1st grade, I read at a third grade level. I put my money where my mouth is, instead of romance novels, eating out, jewelry, clothes or vacations, I buy books concerning politics and current events.
I am always interest.

The Rich Are Winning the US Class War: Facts Show Rich Getting Richer, Everyone Else Poorer
Monday 25 October 2010

by: Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

The rich and their paid false prophets are doing a bang-up job deceiving the poor and middle class. They have convinced many that an evil socialism is alive in the land and it is taking their fair share. But the deception cannot last - facts say otherwise.
Yes, there is a class war - the war of the rich on the poor and the middle class - and the rich are winning. That war has been going on for years. Look at the facts - facts the rich and their false paid prophets do not want people to know.
Let Glenn Beck go on about socialists descending on Washington. Allow Rush Limbaugh to rail about "class warfare for a leftist agenda that will destroy our society." They are well compensated false prophets for the rich.
The truth is that for several decades the rich in the US have been getting richer and the poor and middle class have been getting poorer. Look at the facts, then make up your own mind.
Poor Getting Poorer: Facts
The official US poverty numbers show we now have the highest number of poor people in 51 years. The official US poverty rate is 14.3 percent or 43.6 million people in poverty. One in five children in the US is poor; one in ten senior citizens is poor. (Source: US Census Bureau.)
One of every six workers, 26.8 million people, is unemployed or underemployed. This "real" unemployment rate is over 17 percent. There are 14.8 million people designated as "officially" unemployed by the government, a rate of 9.6 percent. Unemployment is worse for African-American workers, of whom 16.1 percent are unemployed. Another 9.5 million people who are working only part-time while they are seeking full-time work, but have had their hours cut back or are so far only able to find work part-time, are not counted in the official unemployment numbers. Also, an additional 2.5 million are reported unemployed, but not counted because they are classified as discouraged workers in part because they have been out of work for more than 12 months. (Source: US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics October 2010 report.)

Source and rest of article: www.truth-out.org...

ill support Misoir for Pres. You weren't born in Kenya or are Hitler or anything are you?

reply to post by ofhumandescent


I agree with you 100% but everything in the OP is the truth, when capitalism actually works. Today we have a system rigged against workers and the little man, the whole system is rigged against us. I recognize the class warfare being pushed by the elite against the workers. When the CEO of Wal-Mart makes $10,000 an hour while the average employee makes $10 an hour there is a huge problem.

When China is generating more jobs through American business than Americans there is a problem with that too, bringing in illegal aliens to work for a lower wage thus stealing from citizens is a huge problem as well. The game is set against us but when I put that in the OP it does not mean that the rich are being treated unfairly because that would be a distorted view. Rather we need equality but we cannot bring about this equality by completely destroying the rich.

They should be forced onto a fair playing field and forced to do good for Americans, if they think that is a punishment than too bad. When those 10 cannots were written the author lived in a time when business was corrupt but not corrupt to the level it is at today. I do not support income redistribution whether that is from the rich to the poor or the current form of from the poor to the rich. Capitalism calls for incomes to be set at a certain limit but these limits are not to be designed by the greedy CEO but rather the market value of that CEO.

The system is currently a fraud but these quotes are 100% true and accurate when implemented along with fairness as I stated in the OP.

Originally posted by damwel
ill support Misoir for Pres. You weren't born in Kenya or are Hitler or anything are you?

I was born and raised in Florida, USA. I don’t support genocide, imperialism, war, white supremacy, or corporatism so I am not Hitler either.