Abandoning Common Sense

We know in our gut that something is very wrong. There seems to be lessons from the past in our subconscious that is tying the gut into knots. The current financial crisis seems new and quite old at the same time. Words like BAILOUT don't fit the scene. Perhaps the following thoughts from the past are those which we understand, yet which seems to have been forgotten.

From: Proverbs, Chiefly Taken from the Adagia of Erasmus, By Robert Bland, London, 1814

Persons beginning a business before they have well considered it, or spending a fortune before it comes into their possession, which is, "Eating the calf in the cow's belly."

From: The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, July to December 1824

If a man hires a journeyman, the consumer pays the wages; but in Ireland, the pauper himself pays it for his maintenance; in vulgar language, "he is always eating the calf in the cow's belly;" and pays for the necessaries of life twice or thrice the actual value, by his labor and time being comparatively worth nothing.

From: Thrift, by Samuel Smiles, London, November 1875

It is easy to understand how the partners in the Loan Club made money. Suppose that they advanced ten pounds for three months at five per cent. It is repayable in weekly instalments at ten shillings a week,--the repayments commencing the very first week after the advance has been made. But though ten shillings are repaid weekly until the debt is wiped off, interest at five per cent, is charged upon the whole amount until the last instalment is paid off. So that, though the nominal interest is five per cent., it goes on increasing until, during the last week, it reaches the enormous rate of one hundred per cent.! This is what is called "eating the calf in the cow's belly."

From: P. W. Joyce's "English As We Speak It In Ireland." (1910)

Spending your money before you get it - going in debt till pay day comes round: that's 'eating the calf in the cow's belly.'

My point today is NOT that we are "eating the calf in the cow's belly," but that continued bailouts and resulting tax debts will financially devour the child in your wife's belly, your daughter's belly and your grand-daughter's belly.

Today, we must say, "NO MORE!"

The Dragon Wins NO MORE!
Let's accept our failures now. Pass the American Monetary Act to prevent giving away TITLE to our homeland.

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© 2008 by Edward Ulysses Cate
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