Miscellany (but important)

Most of you will find it no surprise to learn that I love Abraham Lincoln. Always have from little boyhood times to today.

Here’s a quote from him that demonstrates why:

            “Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is

            Only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if

            Labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital,

            And deserves much the higher consideration.”

                                                            ~Abraham Lincoln, December 3, 1861

How man people would have put the order in reverse? It takes capital to produce job and task; labor works the job and earns income to replace the capital. Many people I know would make this common error of logic.

Rather, we sweat to create a field; mow the weeks; cut the timber; till the soil and remove the stones and rock. Then we work for others and earn the money to buy the seed; then we toil again to plant the seed; later we cultivate and weed so the crop may stand tall. Then we harvest it and sell it and earn net income.

That’s when we have created the capital! The net income. And we use it to create more jobs, more crops, more net income, more wealth.

That is the proper order of things. Lincoln had it right.

Multiply these efforts a million fold, or 100 million fold. You get the idea. Labor creates wealth that others use to create yet more wealth. From these joint efforts come rising household incomes and higher standards of living. Disrupt this order the opposite is true.

Labor is not better than capital; nor is capital better than labor. They are equal but have different uses. Investment houses, brokers and investment banks who get this wrong, disrupt more than a simple balance. They risk destruction of the very system they say they hold dear.

Politicians who get this wrong also risk disruption and destruction of more than they know.

Seems to me we all need to hit the books, know what we are talking about, and help others to not only understand, but join the team working toward common goals.

This is also justice. Fairness. Respect. These fine elements along with labor and capital produce America. Long may she stand!

I close with this thought from www.luvreels.com:

            “Definition of stupid:

                        Knowing the truth,

                        Seeing the truth,

                        But still believing the lies.”

We can do better than this campaign season suggests. Know the truth and live by it.

September 20, 2012