Few people know who Bill E. Simon was in any context. Suffice it to say, he became the U.S. Secretary of Treasury under Nixon and Ford. He wrote a brilliant book, A Time For Truth, which was a clarion call for our country and put us on notice that we were headed for bankruptcy (as we surely are today). In making his case he give one of the best analysis of NYC’s financial crisis (see Chapter V—New York: Disaster in Microcosm).
“In 1975 New York City collapsed financially. The catastrophe was not a result of the recession. Nor was it a result the energy crisis. However severe the economic difficulties of the period, no other great American city collapsed. It was a problem unique to New York—but unique in only one sense. The philosophy that has ruled our nation for forty years had emerged in large measure from that very city which was America's intellectual headquarters, and inevitably, it was carried to its fullest expression in that city. In the collapse of New York those who chose to understand it could see a terrifying dress rehearsal of the fate that lies ahead for this country if it continues to be guided by the same philosophy of government.”
What philosophy of government is that: the aristocracy of pull and unions—The bureaucratic state and public unions
“Stop asking the government for "free" goods and services, however desirable and necessary they may seem to be. They are not free. They are simply extracted from the hide of your neighbors—and can be extracted only by force. If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you. Be prepared to identify any politician who simultaneously demands your "sacrifices" and offers you "free services" for exactly what he is: an egalitarian demagogue. This one insight understood, this one discipline acted upon and taught by millions of Americans to others could do more to further freedom in American life than any other.”
Great line: "If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you."
Unfortunately it's even worse up in Canada. Everything must be free or you hate (fill in the blank here).
NYC is the Canary in the Coal Mine
Few people know who Bill E. Simon was in any context. Suffice it to say, he became the U.S. Secretary of Treasury under Nixon and Ford. He wrote a brilliant book, A Time For Truth, which was a clarion call for our country and put us on notice that we were headed for bankruptcy (as we surely are today). In making his case he give one of the best analysis of NYC’s financial crisis (see Chapter V—New York: Disaster in Microcosm).
“In 1975 New York City collapsed financially. The catastrophe was not a result of the recession. Nor was it a result the energy crisis. However severe the economic difficulties of the period, no other great American city collapsed. It was a problem unique to New York—but unique in only one sense. The philosophy that has ruled our nation for forty years had emerged in large measure from that very city which was America's intellectual headquarters, and inevitably, it was carried to its fullest expression in that city. In the collapse of New York those who chose to understand it could see a terrifying dress rehearsal of the fate that lies ahead for this country if it continues to be guided by the same philosophy of government.”
What philosophy of government is that: the aristocracy of pull and unions—The bureaucratic state and public unions
“Stop asking the government for "free" goods and services, however desirable and necessary they may seem to be. They are not free. They are simply extracted from the hide of your neighbors—and can be extracted only by force. If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you. Be prepared to identify any politician who simultaneously demands your "sacrifices" and offers you "free services" for exactly what he is: an egalitarian demagogue. This one insight understood, this one discipline acted upon and taught by millions of Americans to others could do more to further freedom in American life than any other.”
Great line: "If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you."
Unfortunately it's even worse up in Canada. Everything must be free or you hate (fill in the blank here).