Civilization
'Loose-Talk' from the past; so out of sync with today's fawning over the goodness of money as a Philosophy to order our way of life:
"Love of wealth and spirit of moderation cannot co-exist among citizens of the same State."
-- The Republic by Plato approximately 360 B.C.
In argument for civilization as a mutual contract...
"...no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short."
-- LEVIATHAN Or The Matter, Forme, & Power Of A Common-Wealth Ecclesiastical And Civill by Thomas Hobbes, 1651
Concerning 'Joint-Stock Companies' {Corporations}:
"...Negligence and profusion, therefore, must always prevail, more or less, in the management of the affairs of such a company."
-- An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations by Adam Smith 1776
"...But merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Horatio G. Spafford, 1814
"...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 First Annual Message December 3rd, 1861
"...a principle that has always been taught by the Church: the principle of the priority of labour over capital..."
-- Laborem Exercens Ioannes Paulus PP. II {Papal Encyclical of John Paul II} September 14, 1981
There must be more choices than ruin from following expediency, or the tyrannies of communism {or the fear of it}. -- Money goes to power and power goes to money; but the United States as a fair country with a large and stable middle class looks like it might crash and burn -- which saddens me.