Francisco's Money Speech (excerpt)
Posted by richrobinson 9 years, 8 months ago to The Gulch: General
I have been listening to Atlas Shrugged during my commute to and from work. I just listened to Francisco's money speech and he was explaining how looters can cause a society to vanish into ruin. He then asks if that day is coming. This gave me chills. I think this explains our current situation.
"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.
"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming? Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion – when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.
that crap in the middle of the night. . sickening. -- j
are at the top, for me. -- j
p.s. and "his time is up."
"Do you wish to know whether that day is coming?" Chilling question.
One could argue that the conditions she named have existed for years in this country. How far back does the "business License" go? Even prior to the anti-trust laws there were things nobody(few) today would even think twice about because we are so used to it. And one could say that one can still do well in this country without dealing in favors. This doesn't change the fact that we are headed in the wrong direction and, at least for some time, it is only going to get worse.
We are all still facing two questions; At what point is enough, enough? At what point is it too late?
When I first asked that I was referring to what point would mean it's too late to be able GTFO?
I have told my children that there may come a time that they would have to buy their way out of the country and they needed to be prepared for that. They are just now making their way out into the world and I know that I could not leave them here to deal with what I could not. Also, to my knowledge, this country still offers the best chance for them to make a good life so there is no better place to send them. I guess that means to me it is still to early.
My kids can move wherever they want to live after college.
If you wait until it is too late to be able to GTFO, then you have fed your oppressors for way too long, and you may not be able to execute your escape plan. According to several Venezuelan students of mine, for many wishing to flee Venezuela, it is too late now.
If you were an engineer, you would design conservatively. Likewise you should plan your escape.
Take the question literally now, though; How would you know if it is too late. I guess that implies that you don't know until it is too late. At this point my only escape plan is a blaze of glory.
To be perfectly honest, it's what I know. And there are other freedoms here that other countries don't have. And most of those countries owe that economic freedom to the mere existence of the US and if the US falls the power struggles around the world will leave no one safe. But if they decide to leave the country I will help them.
I still think the battle Must be won here. I still think it can be. And so far in my life, I have done very little to fight it. I'm just now learning how. Isn't it DB who keeps saying "it is the intellectual battle that must be won."?
20 thousand of us figuring it out. :)
Nope, that means prison. Not a good Shrug.
approaching looters/moochers? -- j
p.s. is that what this ringing is, in my ears?
which had a magazine, and I answered, "There
may be more than one of them." . she looked at me
with the most desperate or quizzical or sad or
tired-looking expression. . the conversation was
not as reassuring, from that point forward. -- j
close to the smokies, but not that close. -- j
the heavy stuff like this might have come earlier
and sought its place in the final edit. . whatta woman! -- j
and made notes and underlined a lot -- the whole
speech got underlined. . my bic wore out. -- j
What is the name of that action where banks are closing the bank accounts of gun dealers and payday loan businesses? A prime example.
all legal businesses.
Just think, the bad guys know you have to do all your business I cash, and they know you're in an area where you can't legally carry.......might as well paint a target on your back.
Trade, charity, fraud, or force are the only four ways that humans can interact economically. Or for that matter, in any realm. Either you trade value for value, or you provide value where there is none out of your benevolence, or somebody tricks you out of your value (including false charity where your benevolence is preyed upon by those who would make you feel guilty), or your value is stolen from you. Of course the only moral way to receive value from another is through trade - by giving value in return. Receiving charity is at best morally neutral and, if it is a lifestyle, it is immoral. And of course, receiving value through fraud or force is openly immoral - even when you vote for somebody else to carry out the fraud or force for you.
That is brilliantly succinct! I'm going to start using it.
Basically, he said one of the major problems was the Fed (big surprise) because they are insanely leveraged (debt to equity) due to money printing and fiat currency. Another major one is the international pullback on buying US debt and the decreasing importance of the petro-dollar. This severely undermines the value of the dollar on the open market. There's a lot more of course, but I'd suggest the book to anyone who wants to see really how bad things are.
In order to avoid the collapse, it would take the following:
1) the Fed would have to reduce it's debt load (debt-to-equity) ratio. That means pulling all its monetary holdings not in use back out of the money supply. In short, the federal government has to stop spending money and make a sincere and sustained effort to pay down its debt.
2) interest rates have to go up. We have to reward saving.
3) we have to repeal all the job-killing government burdens like Obamacare.
Jan
I have not thought of it like that, but it fits.
Thanks
I invest in Real Estate, so here are a couple of FYI's along this line.
Never deposit $12,000 (in the same day) or more other than through a title company. The IR-s may size everything in your accounts. Transactions of $6,000 (in the same day) and over are monitored. If you purchase $600 worth of precious metals, coins, etc. (in the same day) the seller is now required to issue a 1099.
This is the most telling phrase to me. I recall that the USA was #4 rank in Economic Freedom, 21 years ago when we started Schuyler House. It is now #12.
There are a lot more permissions from non-producers that need to be acquired now before you can 'do' anything. (The EPA figures large in this comment.)
Jan
And by the way: Rand accurately quotes the progressive mantra, "money is the root of all evil." It might interest you to know: the progressives misquote Paul of Tarsus on that point. In writing to his student, Timothy, Paul said "a love for money is a root of all sorts of evil." "A root," not "the root." And "all sorts of evil," not all the evil in the world. Nor do I imagine Paul of Tarsus would disagree with Francisco d'Anconia fundamentally on the point made above.
I would tell them to slit their masters' throats when they are sleeping.
“We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
Jan
EDIT: But what does happen when money starts flowing into the hands of the looters is that the incentive to create wealth evaporates and the current wealth of the society is bled dry.
It covers in explicit simpleness why we are falling apart at the seems. The system breads unprincipled people who change at the drop of a hat if that change will get them something more.
As my sister once said to me "there is no right or wrong, just differences of opinion" when backed into a corner in an argument. So to do people simply stop and have nothing rational to say against the money speech.
It can be applied to so many principles and reveals just how corrupted our society has become.
I find it interesting that the people who are against capitalism are the same people who advocate moral relativism. They support the very mindset that allows mercantilists and other looters to thrive.
AS is not compatible with christianity regardless of how adept you are at doctrinal gymnastics.
Can you explain how you reconcile this with the idea that a rich man is rich because he has a lot of value to trade for?
Jan, small antibiotic
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