Thread: The Jackass Whisperer

"[T]he banks can, at a single day's notice, act together, so that no act of Congress can resist their decision." The New York Tribune 1870's or 80's?

"We behold, in tangible form, a power so terribly strong, that, with a touch, it can paralyze armies. We behold it gradually weaving around us a net, from which it is impossible to escape, and claiming with a stern accent which brooks no denial, a right of property in ourselves, our soil, our earnings, our industry and our children. To its influence we can trace most of the political changes, which perplex mankind, and which baffle explanation. The wisest of our statesmen have tried to check its advance and failed." Blackwoods Magazine

"The present state of affairs suggests the existence of some influence which is not generally recognized, though its power must be overruling and its operation universal. It is not seen, yet it reverses the councils of governments which appear to be supreme; it disregards equally public opinion and the interests of States in which it has agents." from the Spectator, London, England

"Yes, we may all congratulate ourselves that this cruel war is nearing its close. It cost a vast amount of blood and treasure. The best blood of the flower of American youth has been freely offered upon our country's altar that the nation might live. It has been indeed a trying hour for the republic. But I see in the future a crisis approaching that unerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in few hands and the republic is destroyed. God grant that my fears may prove groundless." Abraham Lincoln

"Liberty could not long endure, in any country, where the tendency of legislation is to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few." Daniel Webster

When Alexander Hamilton brought forward the funding and banking scheme, which he copied from Great Britain, in 1791, William Pitt, a member of the British Parliament, and one of the greatest of English statesman, said:

"Let the Americans adopt the funding system and go into their banking institutions, and their boasted independence will be a mere phantom."



"Let us have banks, but let them be such as are alone to be found in any country on earth, except Great Britain." Thomas Jefferson

Monkeys and Men

A tribe of monkeys met one day
To settle some disputes
That they had among themselves
Concerning men and brutes;
And as I chanced to pass that way,
I felt an inclination
To hear what they might have to say,
And got an invitation
To take a seat among the rest
And make myself at home,
Among my old relations
That in the forest roam.

Says I to one, "there's some mistake--
Explain it if you can--
Do you me for a monkey take
Or call yourself a man?
Says he, "my friend, there's no mistake
As far as we're concerned;
This question rose among you men,
And men that you call learned;
And this is why we meet to-day--
To talk the matter over;
So hear what we have got to say,
And do not feel so sober."

I took a seat, and must confess,
I felt a little queer
To hear what monkeys had to say
Regarding men's career;
And what I saw and heard them say
I'll tell it verse or prose;
I'll let the muses settle that,
No matter how it goes.

But let it be in verse or prose,
I'll tell the truth the same,
And if there's aught to give offense,
You'll not have me to blame.
'Tis always best to tell the truth,
No matter who it hits--
You need not put the fool's cap on
Unless you find it fits.

It seems these monkeys all had heard
Of Darwin's famous plan,
That from their ancient sires had sprung
The present race of man.
They sent a delegation out,
To learn more of this race,
And found a slight resemblance,
But only in the face.

One monkey rose and told the rest
What he had learned of men,
And if my friends all think it best
I'll tell it o'er again.
Says he, "I've traveled far and wide;
I've seen wise men and fools;
I've seen them in the churches pray,
And I've seen them in their schools.

"I've seen men drink, swear and fight
And tear each other's eyes;
I've heard them tell for solemn truth,
The most blasphemous lies;
I've seen men do a thousand things
Too foolish to be told.
And yet they claim to be as wise
As Solomon of old.

"In fact, old Solomon himself
Did many a foolish thing,
But people called him very wise
Because he was a king.
A king, though he born a fool,
Or stupid as an ass,
Will find his most obedient tools
Among the working class.

"The workingman will pass resolves
To put oppression down;
Yet crawl and cringe before the king,
Because he wears a crown.
They toil and sweat from morn till night
Until they fill their graves,
To feed a pack of titled drones
Who use them as their slaves."

Another monkey took the floor,
And thus addressed the crowd;
"If Darwin's story be correct,
You need not feel so proud
To learn that men were monkeys once;
They act like willing asses,
Who carry burdens all their lives,
As do the working classes.

"Disregard with the rule of kings,
And with their cringing tools,
I came to free America,
Where boasted freemen rule;
Where Yankee Doodle fought and bled
To free themselves from kings;
I found that their degenerate sons
Were ruled by thieves and rings.

"When knaves and thieves get up and fight
To settle their disputes,
The working men will rush pell-mell,
And play the human brutes;
The knaves will then divide the gold,
The fools divide the lead;
And then they shoot each other down,
'Till half the fools are dead.

"The other half will then go home
And work like willing slaves.
To help pay the war fraud off,
And then fill pauper graves.
When workingmen were in the field,
And fighting brave and bold,
The Wall Street thieves like fiends of hell
Were gambling in gold.

"Men boast of their religion,
And boast of their free schools;
But if we monkeys acted so,
They'd say that we were fools;
And I would say the same myself,
In fact I'd hide my face,
If we should ever act like men,
I'd cease to own my race.

"I feel ashamed to tell you how
The workingmen will act;
I scarcely could believe it myself,
Until I proved the fact.
They spin, weave and make fine things
For lazy drones to wear;
They plow and sow, they reap and mow
And lead unceasing lives of care.

"And when they've filled the land with wealth,
With scarcely room for more,
The drones will take and pile it up
And keep it all in store.
The workingmen will stand and gaze
And raise the silly cry;
"Because we have raised so much,
We've got to starve and die.'

"And those who neither toil nor spin
Have plenty and to spare;
They seem to claim a lawful right
To other people's share.
Where e'er I went the workingmen
Ne'er stood compact together.
But, ruled by knaves, in party droves,
Made faces at each other.

"When Providence is kind to us,
And sends abundant fruits,
We don't go round cry 'hard times,'
We don't, you bet your boots.
We go to work, as monkeys should,
And gather in our store;
Each monkey gets what he has earned
And does not ask for more.

"But men have quite revised our plan,
They plunder one another;
Each one stealing all he can,
And brother robbing brother.
And then they go to church and pray
For God to give them grace;
"If not, O Lord, then give us gold,
We'll take that in its place.' "

I felt that I was out of place,
In such a crowd as that;
But knowing that they told the truth,
I felt a little flat.
The meeting was adjourned sine die
And I was left behind
To ponder o'er what I heard
About the human kind.

And now, my friends, my story ends;
This moral fits the case;
Let workingmen CO-OPERATE
And free the human race.
Co-operation leads the way--
The only way to freedom--
The way to rid the earth of drones,
The world no longer needs 'em.

Shake off the chains that bind you down
And stand erect like men!
And if you stumble by the way,
You'll soon get up again,
And if we all co-operate
For labor's true salvation,
The joyful sound will then resound:
A"A free and happy nation!"

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." Samuel Adams

"Treason doth never prosper, what's the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason." Sir John Harrington 1561-1612

The Songs uv Samyewel by Sam Fonograf

"the prise uv wheet wuz fawling fast
as up wall street a banker past
hiz klose prefumed and smellin nise
while threw hiz hed ran this devise
sownd munney

"from albion's shores heed just arrived
with plans mature & well kontrived
& softly in the kokney tung
he warbled owt with hiz wun lung
sownd munney

"in church you mite have herd him sing
& thank the lord fer everything
& if perchanse he fell asleep
heed mix with amens lowd & deep
sownd munney

"in happy homes he saw the lite
uv big log fires up at nite
& az he thot morgege lones
he sang agen in lowder tones
sownd munney

"o stay thy hand the widow kride
evikt not those so harshly tride
he simply sed ekonomize
& then they herd abuv her krys
sownd munney

"kum stop those tricks abe linkun sed
fer dern yer skin ime fer frum ded
ile set the people 2 tan yer hide
but stil that kokney voise replied
sownd munney

"wun day thay fown him stif & kold
(a suiside so i wuz told)
hiz korps 1/2 ett up by rats & mise
but on hiz shirt frunt this devise
sownd munney."

"But a division, not very unequal, had already taken place in the honest part of that body [the legislature], between the parties styled republican and federal. The latter being monarchists in principle, and this mercenary phalanx added to them, insured him always a majority in both Houses; so that the whole action of legislature was now under the direction of the Treasury. Still the machine was not complete. The effect of the funding system, and of the Assumption, would be temporary; it would be lost with the loss of the individual members whom it has enriched, and some engine of influence more permanent must be contrived, while these myrmidons were yet in place to carry it through all opposition. This engine was the Bank of the United States. All that history is known, so I shall not say nothing about it. While the government remained at Philadelphia, a selection of members of both Houses were constantly kept as directors who, on every question interesting to that institution, or to the views of the federal head; and, together with the stock-holding members, could always make the federal vote that of the majority. By this combination, legislative expositions were given to the constitution and all the administrative laws were shaped on the model of England, and so passed. And from this influence we were not relieved, until the removal from the precincts of the bank, to Washington.

"Here then was the real ground of the opposition which was made to the course of administration. Its object was to preserve the legislature pure and independent of the executive, to restrain the administration to republican forms and principles, and not permit the constitution to be construed into a monarchy, and to be warped, in practice, into all the principles and pollutions of their favorite English model. Nor was this an opposition to General Washington. He was true to the republican charge confided to him; and has solemnly and repeatedly protested to me, in our conversations, that he would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it; and he did this the oftener and with the more earnestness, because he knew my suspicions of Hamilton's designs against it, and wished to quiet them. For he was not aware of the drift, or of the effect of Hamilton's schemes. Unversed in financial projects and calculations and budgets, his approbation of them was bottomed on his confidence in the man.

"But Hamilton was not only a monarchist, but for a monarchy bottomed on corruption. In proof of this...for the truth of which I attest the God who made me."

From the notes of Thomas Jefferson

"Since 1980 the Fed has enjoyed the absolute power to do literally anything it wants:...to buy not only U.S. government securities, but any asset whatever, to buy as many assets, and to inflate credit as much as it pleases...There are no restraints on the Federal Reserve. The Fed is master of all it controls." Murry N. Rothbard

"Credit expansion and inflationary increase of the quantity of money frustrate the common mans attempts to save and accumulate reserves for less propitious days." Ludwig von Mises

"The abandonment of the gold standard made it possible for the welfare statists to use the banking system as a means to an unlimited expansion of credit...In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value..." Alan Greenspan

"By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens." John Maynard Keynes

".......Five years previously, in 1694, the sum of L 1,200,000 at 8 per cent interest had been borrowed by the Government from a body of merchants, who, in return, received the privilege of incorporation, by Royal Charter, as "The Governor and Company of the Bank of England." The charter was originally granted for only eleven years certain, Parliament reserving the right to redeem the debt at any time after 1705, upon giving a year's notice; and with the redemption of the debt the charter was to expire. But far from paying off old debts, new loans were from time to time raised by the Government in a similar manner, and the Bank Charter has been prolonged by several renewals."

This is from the book English Constitutional History; the above taken from the footnotes.

Two entries of a diary from a Mr. Samuel Pepys Esq. from the book Pepys's Diary

Sept. 25, 1667 ....."And there dined with him and his lady my Lord Privy-seale, who is indeed a very sober man : who, among other talk, did mightily wonder at the reason of the growth of the credit of the bankers, (since it is so ordinary a thing for citizens to break out of knavery.) Upon this we had much discourse; and I observed therein, to the honour of this City, that I have not heard of one citizen of London broke in all this war....."

Jan. 31, 1668 ....."Thence to talk of other things, and the want of money in the country; that land sold for nothing, and the many pennyworths he knows of lands and houses upon them, with good titles in his country, at 16 years' purchase : "And," says he, "though I am in debt, yet I have a mind to one thing, and that is a Bishop's lease :" but said, "I will yet choose such a lease before any other, because I know they cannot stand, and then it will fall into the King's hands, and I in possession shall have an advantage by it."



Seems that the want of credit still has the same ring tone.

Just a bit of humor.

http://editorialcartoonist.com/cartoon/ ... cfm/65851/