Episode-96- Wisdom about public policy issues from William John Henry Boetcker [ 30:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (408)In this show you will hear my comments about ten maxims originally recorded by Rev. Boetcker almost 100 years ago but still very applicable to current public policy issues.
First are a few of my election 2012 comments:
Election results reflect the will of the people . If we want different results it starts with grassroots education of people.
Republicans have to run someone who is substantially different than the status quo if they are going to beat an incumbent.
Incumbents are really hard to beat no matter how bad or good things seem.
Wisdom about public policy from William John Henry Boetcker
The Rev. William John Henry Boetcker was a Presbyterian minister and notable public speaker who served as director of the pro-employer Citizens' Industrial Alliance, a position he held when, in 1916, he produced a booklet of "nuggets" from his lectures, which included maxims such as "We cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong" and "We cannot help the poor by kicking the rich." Boetcker's collection of maxims eventually crystallized as the list of ten now-familiar entries (variously known as the "Industrial Decalogue," the "Ten Don'ts," the "Ten Cannots," "Ten Things You Cannot Do, "or the "American Charter") reproduced above:
1) You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
Government wasteful spending
What do we have being broadcasting loudly, spend spend spend. We even have economists proclaiming the importance of the consumer to our economy.
It is not consumerism that makes a country or a people prosperous it is thrift and savings.
2) You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
Financially the strong in this country are the wealthy the one percent. To weaken them through progressive tax structures does not strengthen anything but the government who creates more dependents on their redistribution.
Taking from the strong and giving to the weak does something else it makes the weak become weaker because they acquire a false amount from their production.
3) You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
e.g. I’m for the little guy. Its the wall street fat cats that are the problem
“You didn’t build that” Really. Talk to a business owner and ask what he sacrificed to build his business.
4) You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
Minimum wage laws
Lilly Ledbetter act
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Pub.L. 111-2, S. 181) is a federal statute in the United States that was the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009. The Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new act states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. The law directly addressed Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), a U.S. Supreme Court decision that the statute of limitations for presenting an equal-pay lawsuit begins on the date that the employer makes the initial discriminatory wage decision, not at the date of the most recent paycheck.
5) You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
Communists have tried this, socialists have tried this.
It is the rich who invest into development, capital, etc. It is capital that makes capitalism work. IT is the rich who have the most capital. Destroy the capital and your destroy wealth for all!
6) You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
We are a debtor nation. From whom have we borrowed the most? http://www.mygovcost.org/2011/03/11/to-whom-does-the-u-s-government-really-owe-money/
as of 2011 when the dead was only 13.5 trillion instead of over 16 trillion
2.4 trillion to SS trust fund
over 1/3 is owed to foreign countries (over 4.5 trillion)
1.6 trillion to China
854 Billion to Japan
217 Billion to Ecuador, Venezuela, Indonesia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Gabon, Libya, and Nigeria
190 Billion to UK
176 Billion to Brazil
1.6 Trillion to all other foreign countries
Borrower is slave to the lender.
7) You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
The media, politicians and many others are trying to polarize and incite class hatred.
Again the criticism of the 1%
Complaining about the welfare and food stamp recipients
Blaming the recipients of social security.
8) You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
It is true on a personal level, business level, and governmental level.
The federal government will take in $2.173 trillion in 2011.
The federal government will spend $3.818 trillion during the year.
So, just like many families, the government’s outgo exceeds their income—to the tune of $1.645 trillion in overspending. That’s called the deficit. Altogether, the government has $14.2 trillion in debt.
If their household income was $55,000 per year,
they’d actually be spending $96,500—
$41,500 more than they made! That means they’re spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000!
What’s the first step to get out of debt? Stop overspending! But that means a family that is used to spending $96,500 a year has to learn how to live on $55,000. That’s a tough pill to swallow. You can’t borrow your way out of debt.
9) You cannot build character and courage by destroying man's initiative and independence.
Character is built by taking chances failing learning, growing and trying again. It is built by people taking responsibility for winning and loosing.
Courage is someone taking their capital and investing it in some tools and starting a business.
When a government or a people take expect someone else to take care of them or give them someone they loose initiative independence and courage
10) You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
You give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for ever.
What if parents still wiped the butt of their children when they are 10 or 15 years old? Are you really helping them? of course not!
And yet we as a society do that with nearly everything. Health care. Provide it through comprehensive insurance or worse, government provided health care only hurts people in the long run. This is what got us where we are in the first place.
CONCLUSION
Issues never seem to change. These principles were written 100 years ago. Nothing changes they only get more defined and pronounced.
If we are going to build a legacy of abundance for ourselves and also for others we must agree with and be patterned by these principles in our own life and in society.
Start with yourselves and change what you can about that then move towards public policy.
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