“In an earlier day, the rich lived at the expense of the poor, directly and unequivocally; in a modern economy, unproductive citizens increasingly live at the expense of productive ones—though in an equivocal way, since they are told, and believe, that they are disadvantaged and deserve more still. Today, in fact, a good half of the population of every modern nation is made up of people with little or no income, who are exempt from taxes and live, to a large extent, off the other half of the population, which pays taxes. If such a situation were to be radicalized, it could give rise to massive social conflict. The eminently plausible free-market thesis of exploitation by the unproductive would then have prevailed over the much less promising socialist thesis of the exploitation of labor by capital.”

The Grasping Hand (2010)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Peter Sloterdijk49

German philosopher 1947

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“It is literally true that the toleration of banks of paper discount costs the United States one-half their war taxes; or, in other words, doubles the expenses of every war. Now think but for a moment, what a change of condition that would be, which should save half our war expenses, require but half the taxes, and enthral us in debt but half the time.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

ME 13:364
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“The skills and productivity of American Workers, not to mention the taxes they pay, are the greatest economic resource our country has. To condemn large numbers of them to unemployment, to deprive the Treasury of their tax contributions and to force them to live on unemployment at public expense is the most expensive luxury any society ever chose to buy.”

Lane Kirkland (1922–1999) American labor leader

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“Finns live in smaller homes than Americans and consume a lot less. They spend relatively little on national defense, though they still have universal male conscription, and it is popular. Their per capita national income is about 30 percent lower than ours. Private consumption of goods and services represents about 52 percent of Finland's economy, and 71 percent of the United States'. Finns pay considerably higher taxes — nearly half their income — while Americans pay about 30 percent on average to federal, state and local governments.”

Robert G. Kaiser (1943) American journalist

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“Basic Survival goods are cheap, whereas narcissistic self-stimulation and social-display products are expensive. Living doesn’t cost much, but showing off does.”

Jeffrey D. Sachs (1954) American economist

The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity" The Price of Civilization, 2011
Context: Though the United States is one of the world’s richest economies by per capita income, it ranks only around seventeenth in reported life satisfaction. It is superseded not only by the likely candidates of Finland, Norway, and Sweden, which all rank above the United States but also by less likely candidates such as Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Indeed, one might surmise that it is health and longevity rather than income that give the biggest boost to reported life satisfaction. Since good health and longevity can be achieved at per capita income levels well below those of the United States, so too can life satisfaction. One marketing expert put it this way, with only slight exaggeration: Basic Survival goods are cheap, whereas narcissistic self-stimulation and social-display products are expensive. Living doesn’t cost much, but showing off does.

“You represent a large nation of believers that knows what the Bible is, and it is your duty to pass on the message that the Jewish people deserve a renaissance, and a little respect - to live in this land.”

Shlomo Amar (1948) Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem

To Pope Benedict XVI. http://web.archive.org/web/20090514024448/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084958.html (12/05/2009)

“Because of subconscious guilt, people spend half their lives in self-punishment and the other half taking on more guilt.”

Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005) American artist

Annotated Drawings by Eugene J. Martin: 1977-1978

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Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

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Charles Baudelaire Le Peintre de la vie moderne

La modernité, c’est le transitoire, le fugitif, le contingent, la moitié de l’art, dont l’autre moitié est l’éternel et l’immuable. <br class="br">IV: "La modernite" http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Modernit%C3%A9 <br class="br">Le peintre de la vie moderne (1863)

“And there's no getting around the fact that all life lives at the expense of another life.”

Madeleine L'Engle A Ring of Endless Light

Source: A Ring of Endless Light

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Peter Sloterdijk49

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