We all have only 24 hours a day to live. Money beyond some limit be it a million or a billion brings nothing more than power to its controller. Let us not become another serfdom or Euro caste system but ever remain a free people-free of money and power where we can make our own destinies.

Of course he was talking about slavery primarily and so are the othes quoted today, the slavery imposed by the rich and wealthy. The slavery of caste etcetera. The people hanging together via their various governments are the only way to maintain a balance of power. Our forefathers came to this country to escape the power of church, European caste systems based on nobility rather then merit etc. Let us not revert to that old system but stay vigilant to protect all of our God given rithts.

Aw go hate yourself Mike!

There are an awful lot of negative words utter here, so I guess there is no :"state" in these 50 territories.

We are the Government, the Government is us. Hate your government, hate yourself! Thank goodness in the US if we don't like it we can change it, and we do!

Power is good for only one thing to be used. Abuse may be in the eye of the beholder. If a person is given power in either a public or private position and he does not use it then he is a wimp and a sissy. Use the power that you have been enttrusted with in what ever position you find yourself to be! GO AHEAD! MAKE MY DAY! (We have mechanisms in our law and courts for abuse of power. Abuse of power means that the operative stepped beyond the power that he was entrusted with. This is not an abuse of the power but an illegal step beyond his power and should be prosecuted.)

I Nietzche is considered the father of the Nazi State. Go figure! (First "the State" is only a concept, it does not really exist. It is a straw man set up to give us something to rail at. Have you ever met "a state" or conversed with "a state". There are laws within our cities, counties, state and federal government which we choose to enact and enforce within some geographicla jurisdiction but to rail against a concept or spectre as ephermal as "the state" is some sort of madness for narrow minded men.

Anon you can find info about the Tax Gap at "usgovinfo.about.com/od/smallbusiness/a/taxgap.htm". The best thing we can do about is to write to our Congrssmen and Senators and tell them to close it. The only way to close it is to demand more enforcement. Increasing tax rates slightly and closing the tax gap of $350 billion annually will go a long way towards our nations financial health. There are only two types of bureaucrats: the lazy stupid one, and the efficient proficient one, take your pick.

Anon I will report back to you but for starters go to IRS.com. The estimated underpayment of income taxes is a public figure. The Fed Budget runs around 3 trillion lately and the Feds are actually cheated out of somewhere in the range of 200 to 300 Billion. Try goodling "fed cheat factor" or something like that. I will report back if I get a more exact figure. But it is easy to see that 200 or 300 Billion a year adds up to a lot of National Debt.

Stand up like men and women or adults and demand a surplus budget involving spending cuts and tax hikes. A surplus of 500 billion for 20 years would be a good start. Probably would entail an increase in enforcement efforts. Every dollar paid to enforcement brings in 10 dollars in taxes. A substantial increase in the IRS budget would go a long way towars closing the current cheat gap of 300 billion.

Obidiance to law allows for a reduction in law enforcement. Less crime less cops. More self government less law enforcement. If all folks paid their taxes properly the debt would come down by 300 billion a year and the IRS enforcement arm could be laid off! A substantial improvement in self government. The law is enacted by us through our elected representatives. Let us follow the laws we have enacted freely as a free and honorable people.

We are not in perpetual debt if we would but pay it off. What ever happened to our political will in this our country? Blue thinks this is a site to wallow in right wing BS rather than a place for free intelligent interchange.

Reminds of the current complaint about Obama. He is being criticized for pointing out the problems and profilgacy of the last eight years. There are those it seems who would just like to continue wallowing in their misconception about :"liberty" while our nation and society drifts deeper into doodoo. True liberty must include honesty with ourselves and each other. Obama brings this! Hayk points out the dilemma of self government. It would be better if these things were somehow accomplished naturally or automatically but what Hayek is saying here is that these efficient expert adminstrators are needed. If each and all of us governed ourselves properly fewer of thses "experts" would be needed. (If people did their taxes properly we could layoff the IRS.)

People born into certain surrondings like the English working class, Indian Lower Casts, and American minorities are brain washed by history and traditon to think that such an uneducated, unfulfilling life is their only option. A wise leader can inspire and encourage such people as did Moses, Ghandi and King. And all free society is better for it, even those entrenched special interests that prefer to prey upon the seemingly wretched! (PS: those people were kept helpless and ineffectual by the power structure around them: ever heard of slavery and the whip.)

There is and always has been a centralizing force in society. Larger populations natural reduce the freedom of the individual and increase the requirement for greater organization, planning etcetera. Group planning, projects and infrastructure require group funding, taxes. Thank goodness in America we have one of the lowest tax rates in the industrialized world. One of the lowest postal rates. Franklin's observation may or maynot be true but it also points out that no matter how low or high taxes are people bitch about them. It is recorded that folks complained bitterly about the "treaury rats" during Lincoln's Presidency. These were the same people who throght their efficiency won the war and saved the Union. People complained bitterly when the 2% income tax was imposed on a small number of rich when the income tax was enacted. So it seems Franklin like all the others are just part of a human inclination to BITCH!

Why do the rest of the nations of the world also have fiat currency of their own? Is it because they are bankrupt also? You throw the word around awful easy when it is really just you who is bankrupt of intelligence and knowledge.

Of course the stock market slide since November a year ago had nothing to do with the 8 years of Cheney/Bush.

What a jerk Reagan was. Yeah like free enterprize gave blacks a leg up, kept our rivers and streams clean, worked to benefit us all with dirty coal, etcetera. Again Reagan was a jerk with these sutpid comments. Had alzheimers the entire time he was in the White House. Worked against the Brady Bill but said it was a great bill when Clinton signed it. .

Partly true and partly false. Clinton ran a surplus for a number of years. When he did the Repubs in Congress complained saying "that is the peoples money". These same Repubs are to stupid to also admit that "it is the peoples debt". And we got to start paying it. The sooner the better. We lived profilgate to long at the hands of Cheney/Bush! I think Ron Paul is a simpleton and obviously do the people of the United States and his Republican Party.

Define progress! We were headed off a cliff with the defined progress of Cheney/Bush. Thank God we have been saved! Life in these United States can be loved again!

There is only one place that wealth gets its' money and that is from the poor or at least from those who are poorer than themselves. Just like the barons and earls of yore, money flows up. A healthy and prosperous peasantry insures a healthy and prosperous up side to the upper class. Mexico had land reform, Russia tried to improve the lives of serfs etcetera. If you consider group action of the poor to obtain a better life or better deal as "the state" so be it. The state can be a captive of the the wealthy, the middle class, or the poor.

Above Archer said, "the US Government is bankrupt and merely printing money" etc then in his next post he said "no one brought up the US Government". What ya smoking and drinking today Archer?

I agree with Robert!

The quote is an absolutely correct and truthful statement. The "demand liabilities of a bank" are your deposits. Because of the "law of large numbers" the bank while still promising you access to your money on demand also is able to lend some of it to others. Thus in effect you and the others both have access to your money at the same time. Because there are so many individual depositors at any one time and no one demands their money at the same time the banking process can continue indefinitley. This quote is a simple truth and you guys get off on it and go gaga. I don't get it! It has nothing to do with the Fed or the USA, this is a universal attribute of banking.

He is absolutely correct. Most modern nations have fiat currency and a legal tender law. Greenspan was probably just staiting the obvious to some backwoods congressmen.