View Full Version : Trump Targets Department of Defense for Wasteful Spending
tennman
12-06-2016, 12:41 PM
No blank check from Donald Trump for the Department of Defense. This is really good news for the liberty minded.
Donald Trump slammed wasteful government spending and the record U.S. national debt from the first day of his campaign and is already looking for ways for the government to be better stewards of the taxpayers’ money even though he won’t take office until next month.
He is targeting the Department of Defense and its contract with Boeing to build Air Force One, the aircraft that transports the President. Tuesday morning on Twitter, Trump blasted Boeing’s massive Air Force One contract with the Department of Defense, calling the $4 billion price tag “out of control” and even suggesting the deal should be cancelled altogether: http://resistancefeed.com/2016/12/06/trump-wants-cancel-boeings-4-billion-air-force-one-contract/
He suggested that Boeing was inflating the price tag because it was a government contract. None of that under his watch, apparently.
No blank check from Donald Trump for the Department of Defense. This is really good news for the liberty minded.
Donald Trump slammed wasteful government spending and the record U.S. national debt from the first day of his campaign and is already looking for ways for the government to be better stewards of the taxpayers’ money even though he won’t take office until next month.
He is targeting the Department of Defense and its contract with Boeing to build Air Force One, the aircraft that transports the President. Tuesday morning on Twitter, Trump blasted Boeing’s massive Air Force One contract with the Department of Defense, calling the $4 billion price tag “out of control” and even suggesting the deal should be cancelled altogether: http://resistancefeed.com/2016/12/06/trump-wants-cancel-boeings-4-billion-air-force-one-contract/
He suggested that Boeing was inflating the price tag because it was a government contract. None of that under his watch, apparently.
THUMP says a lot, but his actions are VERY different. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, but it takes a bunch of idiots to defend it. 3.2.1.....
otherone
12-06-2016, 03:18 PM
THUMP says a lot, but his actions are VERY different.
what actions?
helmuth_hubener
12-06-2016, 03:23 PM
what actions?
Indeed. Some serious cognitive dissonance at play here, in my opinion.
Here's a simple question. The US government spending $4 billion fewer dollars: a good thing or a bad thing?
:toady:
JK/SEA
12-06-2016, 03:32 PM
THUMP says a lot, but his actions are VERY different. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, but it takes a bunch of idiots to defend it. 3.2.1.....
Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".
The word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera.[1] Historically, hysteria has referred to a disease exclusive to women, and references as far back as 2000 BC [2] have been made to similar versions of this condition. Hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour.[3] These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing the validity of Hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is a term used to describe an indefinable illness.[1] Through to the 20th century, however, Hysteria came to be recognized as a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. We now know it by a variety of mental illnesses and anxieties that both men and women can suffer from, and hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment[2]
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[2]
robert68
12-06-2016, 04:01 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpbzmjcxQM
Jamesiv1
12-06-2016, 04:14 PM
THUMP says a lot, but his actions are VERY different. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see it, but it takes a bunch of idiots to defend it. 3.2.1.....
what actions?
right? lol
DJ DonMaster Trump hasn't even been sworn in and bozo's like scm are busting him for his "actions".
The anti-Trumpers are going insane.
Why do you hate America, scm?
eleganz
12-06-2016, 04:16 PM
My liberal friends are attacking Trump for attempting to decrease costs of $4B AF1 by saying he doesn't know that its expensive to build AF1. LOL......!
what actions?
swamp drained?
clinton in jail?
Kissinger? Gore? Romney?
Yeah, THOSE actions to begin with. So far, so sad.
Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".
The word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera.[1] Historically, hysteria has referred to a disease exclusive to women, and references as far back as 2000 BC [2] have been made to similar versions of this condition. Hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour.[3] These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing the validity of Hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is a term used to describe an indefinable illness.[1] Through to the 20th century, however, Hysteria came to be recognized as a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. We now know it by a variety of mental illnesses and anxieties that both men and women can suffer from, and hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment[2]
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[2]
Idiocracy (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Idiocracy&defid=3415173)
Idiocracy is democracy gone wrong through idiocy. It is the unfortunate situation where the vote of a person ignorant of even the most basic of facts surrounding an issue or candidate counts exactly as much as the vote of someone who is well-informed about the specific issue or candidate.
In an idiocracy the vote of someone who says for example, "I won't vote for Obama because I heard he is a known terrorist and doesn't like Italian food" counts as much as the vote of someone who makes an effort to find out exactly where the presidential candidates stand on various issues. It's democracy gone wrong through idiocy. Another example is "I won't vote for McCain because I heard he has Alzheimers and has already spent time in a nursing home."
right? lol
DJ DonMaster Trump hasn't even been sworn in and bozo's like scm are busting him for his "actions".
The anti-Trumpers are going insane.
Why do you hate America, scm?
I can assure you, Im not going insane, he's acting exactly as expected, so are the trolls.
Here's a simple question. The US government spending $4 billion fewer dollars: a good thing or a bad thing?
:toady:
What difference does it make when your $20,000,000,000.00 in debt. $4,000,000.00 is like the penny you give to the bum in the street.
But hey The trumpets are falling for it. Im sure they all have the biggest hard ons full of respect for him now. Circle Jerk everyone!!! #MAGA one penny at a time.
phill4paul
12-06-2016, 05:08 PM
Not a Trump fan but if Rand was the president-elect and said the same thing everyone hear would be cheering.
Not a Trump fan but if Rand was the president-elect and said the same thing everyone hear would be cheering.
not me
oyarde
12-06-2016, 05:31 PM
Indeed. Some serious cognitive dissonance at play here, in my opinion.
Here's a simple question. The US government spending $4 billion fewer dollars: a good thing or a bad thing?
:toady:
Good . I would cancel it to . I would do away with TSA and fly commercial coach .
oyarde
12-06-2016, 05:33 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpbzmjcxQM
Nice.
Suzanimal
12-06-2016, 05:37 PM
Not a Trump fan but if Rand was the president-elect and said the same thing everyone hear would be cheering.
I would.
phill4paul
12-06-2016, 05:44 PM
not me
OK. Almost everyone here. :rolleyes:
Suzanimal
12-06-2016, 05:57 PM
$125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?505063-Pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste
Looks like he needs to tack $125 more billions on the chopping block.
Krugminator2
12-06-2016, 06:08 PM
My liberal friends are attacking Trump for attempting to decrease costs of $4B AF1 by saying he doesn't know that its expensive to build AF1. LOL......!
Apparently your liberal friends and our liberal President don't know what the cost is either. The cost is $1.65 billion for an order of two aircrafts. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-boeing-air-force-one-232243
And it seems at least possible that Trump is retaliating against Boeing solely because the CEO of Boeing called out Trump's economic illiteracy on trade a half hour before the Tweet.
JK/SEA
12-06-2016, 06:13 PM
Idiocracy (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Idiocracy&defid=3415173)
Idiocracy is democracy gone wrong through idiocy. It is the unfortunate situation where the vote of a person ignorant of even the most basic of facts surrounding an issue or candidate counts exactly as much as the vote of someone who is well-informed about the specific issue or candidate.
In an idiocracy the vote of someone who says for example, "I won't vote for Obama because I heard he is a known terrorist and doesn't like Italian food" counts as much as the vote of someone who makes an effort to find out exactly where the presidential candidates stand on various issues. It's democracy gone wrong through idiocy. Another example is "I won't vote for McCain because I heard he has Alzheimers and has already spent time in a nursing home."
Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".
The word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera.[1] Historically, hysteria has referred to a disease exclusive to women, and references as far back as 2000 BC [2] have been made to similar versions of this condition. Hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour.[3] These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing the validity of Hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is a term used to describe an indefinable illness.[1] Through to the 20th century, however, Hysteria came to be recognized as a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. We now know it by a variety of mental illnesses and anxieties that both men and women can suffer from, and hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment[2]
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[2]
JK/SEA
12-06-2016, 06:15 PM
not me
Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".
The word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera.[1] Historically, hysteria has referred to a disease exclusive to women, and references as far back as 2000 BC [2] have been made to similar versions of this condition. Hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour.[3] These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing the validity of Hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is a term used to describe an indefinable illness.[1] Through to the 20th century, however, Hysteria came to be recognized as a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. We now know it by a variety of mental illnesses and anxieties that both men and women can suffer from, and hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment[2]
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[2]
OK. Almost everyone here. :rolleyes:
I would of hoped rand would of at least walked in Ron footsteps by saying something like "let stop making enemies so we don't need these things"
Thump could impressed me if he had said, "cancel the order, I take one of my own planes" but he didn't. All it was is just another of his meaningless tweets. But hey. Thumpies got a hard on.
Hysteria, in the colloquial use of the term, means ungovernable emotional excess. Generally, modern medical professionals have abandoned using the term "hysteria" to denote a diagnostic category, replacing it with more precisely defined categories, such as somatization disorder. In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially changed the diagnosis of "hysterical neurosis, conversion type" (the most extreme and effective type) to "conversion disorder".
The word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera.[1] Historically, hysteria has referred to a disease exclusive to women, and references as far back as 2000 BC [2] have been made to similar versions of this condition. Hysteria was thought to manifest itself in women with a variety of symptoms, including: anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, insomnia, irritability, nervousness, as well as sexually forward behaviour.[3] These symptoms mimic symptoms of other more definable diseases and create a case for arguing the validity of Hysteria as an actual disease, and it is often implied that it is a term used to describe an indefinable illness.[1] Through to the 20th century, however, Hysteria came to be recognized as a mental, rather than uterine or physical, affliction. We now know it by a variety of mental illnesses and anxieties that both men and women can suffer from, and hysteria is no longer thought of as a real ailment[2]
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE-XoVKaXg
JK/SEA
12-06-2016, 06:20 PM
Through its lack of use as a medical diagnosis the term ‘hysteria’ now has connotations of mass panic, imagined or real. The term hysterical when applied to a singular person can mean that they are emotional or irrationally upset; when applied to a situation, it denotes it as funny.[
presence
12-06-2016, 06:26 PM
Here's a simple question. The US government spending $4 billion fewer dollars: a good thing or a bad thing?
NYPD is pissing out $1,000,000/day over the running Secret Service tab to keep him in Trump Tower.
That's $2.92 Billion over 8 years.
Keeping Donald Trump safe is costing New York City $1 million per day (http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-police-protection-1-million-dollars-per-day-2016-11)
TheCount
12-06-2016, 07:18 PM
Yeah, the guy who said that he is going to increase the size of the army by 20℅ and add what, nearly a hundred ships to the Navy is going to get right on cutting spending at the dod.
oyarde
12-06-2016, 07:25 PM
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?505063-Pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste
Looks like he needs to tack $125 more billions on the chopping block.
They should put the procurement in the defense budget on the chopping block too . People would be amazed at that ridiculous amount .
UWDude
12-06-2016, 07:35 PM
Good . I would cancel it to . I would do away with TSA and fly commercial coach .
You would be assassinated if you did that. Get real.
TheTexan
12-06-2016, 07:39 PM
But for a secure, safe America I think we need 40+ more carrier groups at least and probably a new jet cus F-22 and F-35 are old already
Jamesiv1
12-06-2016, 07:44 PM
NYPD is pissing out $1,000,000/day over the running Secret Service tab to keep him in Trump Tower.
That's $2.92 Billion over 8 years.
Keeping Donald Trump safe is costing New York City $1 million per day (http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-police-protection-1-million-dollars-per-day-2016-11)
Fake News
oyarde
12-06-2016, 07:57 PM
You would be assassinated if you did that. Get real.
Me ? no .
69360
12-06-2016, 09:26 PM
He's probably just pissed that for 4 billion it doesn't have a gold plated crapper like his plane.
UWDude
12-06-2016, 09:32 PM
He's probably just pissed that for 4 billion it doesn't have a gold plated crapper like his plane.
"probably"
Ender
12-06-2016, 09:35 PM
Yeah, the guy who said that he is going to increase the size of the army by 20℅ and add what, nearly a hundred ships to the Navy is going to get right on cutting spending at the dod.
Was just thinking the same thing.
How does that cut DoD spending, exactly........???:confused:
less paperclips more bullets
#drainTheWall
#BuildTheSwamp
#GAMA
oyarde
12-06-2016, 11:04 PM
less paperclips more bullets
#drainTheWall
#BuildTheSwamp
#GAMA
Bullets are better than paperclips but only if I have them .
eleganz
12-07-2016, 01:19 AM
Not a Trump fan but if Rand was the president-elect and said the same thing everyone hear would be cheering.
I'm happy about it now and would be happy if Rand said it too.
Not a Trump fan but if Rand was the president-elect and said the same thing everyone hear would be cheering.
The difference is if Rand said it, most here know he's not full of shit, and won't be tweeting out something contradictory a day or week later.
silverhandorder
12-07-2016, 05:03 AM
The difference is if Rand said it, most here know he's not full of $#@!, and won't be tweeting out something contradictory a day or week later.
MAGA!
Theocrat
12-07-2016, 05:03 AM
No blank check from Donald Trump for the Department of Defense. This is really good news for the liberty minded.
Donald Trump slammed wasteful government spending and the record U.S. national debt from the first day of his campaign and is already looking for ways for the government to be better stewards of the taxpayers’ money even though he won’t take office until next month.
He is targeting the Department of Defense and its contract with Boeing to build Air Force One, the aircraft that transports the President. Tuesday morning on Twitter, Trump blasted Boeing’s massive Air Force One contract with the Department of Defense, calling the $4 billion price tag “out of control” and even suggesting the deal should be cancelled altogether: http://resistancefeed.com/2016/12/06/trump-wants-cancel-boeings-4-billion-air-force-one-contract/
He suggested that Boeing was inflating the price tag because it was a government contract. None of that under his watch, apparently.
I really don't get Trump supporters. To be "liberty-minded" is a packaged deal, encompassing many related and consistent positions on public policy towards the goal of less government intervention and more private entrepreneurship and charity. It's not just saying the right thing on one issue.
Every time Trump says one thing that is even remotely close to a conservative or libertarian position, Trump supporters here rage on like, "Look! Trump is going to lead us towards liberty! Woooooooo!" forgetting the tens of other positions that Trump holds when it comes to things like eminent domain, stealing oil from other nations, using executive orders for his own means, and a slew of other non-liberty views.
Forget Trump's rhetoric; look at his history of what he's stood for, used the government to do on his behalf, and how many times he's flip-flopped on issues. That's what counts.
Theocrat
12-07-2016, 05:14 AM
Yeah, the guy who said that he is going to increase the size of the army by 20℅ and add what, nearly a hundred ships to the Navy is going to get right on cutting spending at the dod.
Indeed. Sure enough, Trump did say that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxdgNKSN6zw
He would use that money instead to build more fearless troops and black bag US citizens.
https://i.imgur.com/H73moZ7.png
http://i.imgur.com/Y75klLx.jpg
Trump says he'd try U.S. citizens in Gitmo military tribunals (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?499352-Trump-says-he-d-try-U-S-citizens-in-Gitmo-military-tribunals)
helmuth_hubener
12-07-2016, 09:47 AM
What difference does it make when you[']r[e] $20,000,000,000.00 in debt[?] Oh, well if one is "$20,000,000,000.00" in debt, then the amount in question will pay off fully one-fifth of your debt. Do it five more times and you're done.
I am very glad I could help you with your mathematical query.
$4,000,000[,000].00 is like the penny you give to the bum in the street.... #MAGA one penny at a time. I do not give pennies to bums in the street. If you do, that may be your problem. One penny at a time is, in fact, how budgeting is done. I do not expect that you have any capability to relate to this nor understand it, Mr. SCM, but it is true. Wealthy people are far more assiduous, statistically speaking, at tracking every single spending event and expense they occur than people who, well, do not have that ability and fail to accumulate any wealth.
Each penny adds up, and before you know it you have saved enough to live off the interest. Or, conversely, you have flung and flitted away all those lottery winnings.
In this case, $4 billion dollars is actually .2% of the total federal budget. This is, for scale reference: twenty times the savings you would get by eliminating, completely eliminating, the National Endowment for the Arts (which I obviously support eliminating also). It is nine times what you'd get by scrapping all funding for PBS, NPR, and all other Public Broadcasting (scrap, baby, scrap!). Now even though *I* support burning these things to the ground, no one else actually does, and it would be very difficult to push through the elimination of the NEA, much less of public broadcasting funding. So cutting on a scale twenty times bigger is really very, very good. Continue making cuts of this size every day, once a day, for a year, and by the end you have cut and eliminated 73% of the federal budget. And that's even if it's not leap year! And it all happened just one little penny at a time.
helmuth_hubener
12-07-2016, 09:59 AM
To be "liberty-minded" is a packaged deal, blah, bla-blah, bla-blah.
What's really important to me is that everyone come to agree with me, Theocrat, on every issue and not only that, but do so for the right reasons, with the right and pure philosophical foundation.
That's what counts.
Hmm.
Actually, what counts in reality is, well: reality! Since I put a high priority on reality, that is what counts to me.
Dollars and cents are very important to reality.
If, let us say, the federal budget were $100 Billion dollars, just how oppressive is that government going to be? It will be a whole lot less oppressive than the one now, maybe than you can even imagine! Let them pass all the horrible laws they want -- who cares? It hardly even matters! I mean, it would matter, but on a scale a whole order of magnitude (or two!) less than it matters: how much money are they spending? How many resources, that is, do they have access to and are using, to oppress us?
In terms of worthwhile political goals, cutting the budget is everything. Cutting the budget is everything. That is the fountain from which everything else flows. Cutting the budget is everything.
Oh, well if one is "$20,000,000,000.00" in debt, then the amount in question will pay off fully one-fifth of your debt. Do it five more times and you're done.
I am very glad I could help you with your mathematical query.
Maybe I missed a few zeros. One of the downsides to typing on an iPhone. $4bn is definitely not 1/5 of $20TRILLION
either way, it doesn't really matter. The planes will still be built. The people will still be taxed and the debt will continue to grow. At least thump got the headline he wanted.
Athan
12-07-2016, 10:24 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpbzmjcxQM
Oh dat's nice.
TheCount
12-07-2016, 10:33 AM
In terms of worthwhile political goals, cutting the budget is everything. Cutting the budget is everything. That is the fountain from which everything else flows. Cutting the budget is everything.The Republican house voted to expand DOD spending last week.
Do you actually think that Trump will reduce overall defense spending?
helmuth_hubener
12-07-2016, 11:34 AM
Maybe I missed a few zeros.
either way, it doesn't really matter.
That is why you are not rich. And probably will not be put in charge of budget...anything, much less budget-reduction, any time soon. I hope. :)
nikcers
12-07-2016, 11:50 AM
The Republican house voted to expand DOD spending last week.
Do you actually think that Trump will reduce overall defense spending?
Purpose increasing spending while claiming to reduce fraud, waste and inefficiencies. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but has billions in marketing saying its not a duck, is it a duck?
TheCount
12-07-2016, 12:04 PM
Purpose increasing spending while claiming to reduce fraud, waste and inefficiencies. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, but has billions in marketing saying its not a duck, is it a duck?If the TSA is security theater, is this conservatism theater?
That is why you are not rich. And probably will not be put in charge of budget...anything, much less budget-reduction, any time soon. I hope. :)
Money is the root of all evil. I have ZERO desire to be rich. I just want to be left alone.
helmuth_hubener
12-07-2016, 01:23 PM
Money is the root of all evil. Don't let Francisco D'Anconia hear you say that.
In fact, best to not let anyone intelligent hear you say that. :) Just some good advice!
“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?
“When you accept money in payment for your effort, you do so only on the conviction that you will exchange it for the product of the effort of others. It is not the moochers or the looters who give value to money. Not an ocean of tears not all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor–your claim upon the energy of the men who produce. Your wallet is your statement of hope that somewhere in the world around you there are men who will not default on that moral principle which is the root of money, Is this what you consider evil?
“Have you ever looked for the root of production? Take a look at an electric generator and dare tell yourself that it was created by the muscular effort of unthinking brutes. Try to grow a seed of wheat without the knowledge left to you by men who had to discover it for the first time. Try to obtain your food by means of nothing but physical motions–and you’ll learn that man’s mind is the root of all the goods produced and of all the wealth that has ever existed on earth.
“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made–before it can be looted or mooched–made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.’
“To trade by means of money is the code of the men of good will. Money rests on the axiom that every man is the owner of his mind and his effort. Money allows no power to prescribe the value of your effort except the voluntary choice of the man who is willing to trade you his effort in return. Money permits you to obtain for your goods and your labor that which they are worth to the men who buy them, but no more. Money permits no deals except those to mutual benefit by the unforced judgment of the traders. Money demands of you the recognition that men must work for their own benefit, not for their own injury, for their gain, not their loss–the recognition that they are not beasts of burden, born to carry the weight of your misery–that you must offer them values, not wounds–that the common bond among men is not the exchange of suffering, but the exchange of goods. Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men’s stupidity, but your talent to their reason; it demands that you buy, not the shoddiest they offer, but the best that your money can find. And when men live by trade–with reason, not force, as their final arbiter–it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability–and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward. This is the code of existence whose tool and symbol is money. Is this what you consider evil?
“But money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires. Money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse the law of causality–the men who seek to replace the mind by seizing the products of the mind.
“Money will not purchase happiness for the man who has no concept of what he wants: money will not give him a code of values, if he’s evaded the knowledge of what to value, and it will not provide him with a purpose, if he’s evaded the choice of what to seek. Money will not buy intelligence for the fool, or admiration for the coward, or respect for the incompetent. The man who attempts to purchase the brains of his superiors to serve him, with his money replacing his judgment, ends up by becoming the victim of his inferiors. The men of intelligence desert him, but the cheats and the frauds come flocking to him, drawn by a law which he has not discovered: that no man may be smaller than his money. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
“Only the man who does not need it, is fit to inherit wealth–the man who would make his own fortune no matter where he started. If an heir is equal to his money, it serves him; if not, it destroys him. But you look on and you cry that money corrupted him. Did it? Or did he corrupt his money? Do not envy a worthless heir; his wealth is not yours and you would have done no better with it. Do not think that it should have been distributed among you; loading the world with fifty parasites instead of one, would not bring back the dead virtue which was the fortune. Money is a living power that dies without its root. Money will not serve the mind that cannot match it. Is this the reason why you call it evil?
“Money is your means of survival. The verdict you pronounce upon the source of your livelihood is the verdict you pronounce upon your life. If the source is corrupt, you have damned your own existence. Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil. Evil, because it would not pinch-hit for your self-respect? Evil, because it would not let you enjoy your depravity? Is this the root of your hatred of money?
“Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred of money?
“Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money–and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it.
“Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.
“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another–their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.
“But money demands of you the highest virtues, if you wish to make it or to keep it. Men who have no courage, pride or self-esteem, men who have no moral sense of their right to their money and are not willing to defend it as they defend their life, men who apologize for being rich–will not remain rich for long. They are the natural bait for the swarms of looters that stay under rocks for centuries, but come crawling out at the first smell of a man who begs to be forgiven for the guilt of owning wealth. They will hasten to relieve him of the guilt–and of his life, as he deserves.
“Then you will see the rise of the men of the double standard–the men who live by force, yet count on those who live by trade to create the value of their looted money–the men who are the hitchhikers of virtue. In a moral society, these are the criminals, and the statutes are written to protect you against them. But when a society establishes criminals-by-right and looters-by-law–men who use force to seize the wealth of disarmed victims–then money becomes its creators’ avenger. Such looters believe it safe to rob defenseless men, once they’ve passed a law to disarm them. But their loot becomes the magnet for other looters, who get it from them as they got it. Then the race goes, not to the ablest at production, but to those most ruthless at brutality. When force is the standard, the murderer wins over the pickpocket. And then that society vanishes, in a spread of ruins and slaughter.
“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 is 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.
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are.
“You stand in the midst of the greatest achievements of the greatest productive civilization and you wonder why it’s crumbling around you, while you’re damning its life-blood–money. You look upon money as the savages did before you, and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities. Throughout men’s history, money was always seized by looters of one brand or another, whose names changed, but whose method remained the same: to seize wealth by force and to keep the producers bound, demeaned, defamed, deprived of honor. That phrase about the evil of money, which you mouth with such righteous recklessness, comes from a time when wealth was produced by the labor of slaves–slaves who repeated the motions once discovered by somebody’s mind and left unimproved for centuries. So long as production was ruled by force, and wealth was obtained by conquest, there was little to conquer, Yet through all the centuries of stagnation and starvation, men exalted the looters, as aristocrats of the sword, as aristocrats of birth, as aristocrats of the bureau, and despised the producers, as slaves, as traders, as shopkeepers–as industrialists.
“To the glory of mankind, there was, for the first and only time in history, a country of money–and I have no higher, more reverent tribute to pay to America, for this means: a country of reason, justice, freedom, production, achievement. For the first time, man’s mind and money were set free, and there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being–the self-made man–the American industrialist.
“If you ask me to name the proudest distinction of Americans, I would choose–because it contains all the others–the fact that they were the people who created the phrase ‘to make money.’ No other language or nation had ever used these words before; men had always thought of wealth as a static quantity–to be seized, begged, inherited, shared, looted or obtained as a favor. Americans were the first to understand that wealth has to be created. The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.
“Yet these were the words for which Americans were denounced by the rotted cultures of the looters’ continents. Now the looters’ credo has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter who simpers that he sees no difference between the power of the dollar and the power of the whip, ought to learn the difference on his own hide– as, I think, he will.
“Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to be the tool by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of men. Blood, whips and guns–or dollars. Take your choice–there is no other–and your time is running out.”
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