The Ten Cannots.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
-- Rev. William John Henry Boetcker, 1873
You cannot build an economy by taking away more from the small consumer than you take from the man with more than he can spend.
You cannot cause people to invest or save less by taxing dividends and capital gains at the same rate as you tax all other accretions to wealth.
Men with initiative, character, and independence are willing to shoulder their share of the common burden, secure in the knowledge that their hard work and their drive will still kepp them ahead of those who are satisfied with what is handed to them.
You cannot have the Treasury throw money at large institutions to save the jobs of the bosses and argue that to help the common man is evil.
Posted by: New Diarist | November 14, 2008 at 03:14 PM