Some Quotes To Ponder On This Holiday

This special holiday, which is supposed to represent peace and good will toward all men, is a good time to ponder the economic injustice that we have allowed to be created in this country. Somehow we have allowed the rich and the corporations to fool us into believing that capital is much more important than labor, and that labor exists simply to be exploited by the rich to make themselves even richer.

This illogical line of thinking, commonly called "capitalism" or "free enterprise", is an abomination when left unregulated. We are told that it is the basis of freedom and justice, but what it inevitably leads to is tyranny by the rich (plutocracy) and a devastating economic injustice.

My friend Jack Jodell, at his excellent blog The Saturday Afternoon Post, has compiled a list of quotes for us to ponder on this holiday. I urge you to go to his site and read them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

“Of  course I believe in free enterprise, but in my system of free enterprise, the democratic principle is that there never was, never has been, never will be, room for the ruthless exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.”- Harry S Truman –


“The law does not pretend to punish everything that is dishonest. That would seriously interfere with business.”- Clarence Darrow –


“We have deluded ourselves into believing the myth that capitalism grew and prospered out of the Protestant work ethic of hard work and sacrifices. Capitalism was built on the exploitation of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white, both here and abroad.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – 


“Those who produce should have, but we know that those who produce the most – that is, those who work hardest, and at the most difficult and most menial tasks, have the least.”
_ Eugene V. Debs –


“Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. “
- Bertrand Russell –


“The forces of a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.”
- Jawaharlal Nehru –


“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. ..”
- Abraham Lincoln –


“True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of what dictatorships are made.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt –


“The basic law of capitalism is you or I, not both you and I.”
- Karl Liebknecht -