A powerful quote from Pastor/Dr. Adrian Rogers (1931–2005): “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

I think it is dead on correct! thanks for posting it...3 points...(sorry, I'd give you more but I'm not popular enough to have the power..lol)

This captures the flaw in pure socialism or communism. Unfortunately, it at the same time masks the flaw in pure capitalism. The US has gone too far in the anti-socialism direction recently. In the 70s, the wealthiest 1% in the USA owned 25% of everything here. With trickle-down economics, they now hold 50% and still want WAY more. And they have, for the most part, invested the wealth transferred to them offshore where there are people willing to work for $1 a day with no health care, and returns are better. Real income for the middle class is down substantially over that time. If we stay on this track, we WILL be a banana republic where a tiny handful of families own everything including the government, and set up the laws so things forever stay that way. If you do not tax income progressively, wealth rapidly concentrates at the top. This is because someone earning $10,000 a year needs every penny of that to feed, clothe and house a family. Whereas someone earning $10,000,000,000 needs just a tiny fraction of that $10 billion to live. All the rest can be used buying up the means of production and financing, so that next year, they earn $15 billion and so forth. Soon, they have it all. There are those on the right running around bemoaning the fate of the rich if we go back to the 39.6% top tax rate that we had under Clinton. The rich won't invest here, they howl. They won't have any incentive to work. They will go elsewhere and won't "create" wealth. Now hear this. I own a small business. Any work the rich won't take, I will. Send your requests for quote to ME. I will be delighted to make over a quarter of a million per year and have to pay the top tax bracket on all earnings over that.

Yeah were there also: When the people of a replubic learn or decide they can get great gifts from the public trust it is the end of the republic.

1) Sure, those are some reasons why pure socialism has some problems to motivate people. But there is also a great value in society that is called solidarity. And actually, you *can* multiply wealth when you divide it. Generosity makes all of us richer. 2) I found this interesting article about Adrian Rogers: "Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005), was an American pastor, conservative, author, and a three-term president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979-1980 and 1986-1988)." "Rogers was instrumental in the Southern Baptist denomination's shift towards the right that began in the late 1970s, as he was elected president of the denomination during a theological controversy within the denomination." "Rogers served three times as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest American Protestant denomination with 16 million members. He was first elected to this post on a platform of biblical inerrancy, and under his leadership, the denomination shifted sharply rightward, firing liberal and moderate seminary professors, as well as requiring all employees of the denomination's seminaries and the national office to affirm their adherence to the Baptist Faith and Message, a document which Rogers later (when he was no longer president) succeeded in significantly revising. The denomination has remained staunchly conservative since Rogers' first term as president." "Rogers' theology is best described as conservative and evangelical. He believed in Biblical inerrancy, dispensationalism, and eternal security of the believer. Rogers opposed Reformed theology and Calvinism." "Like many influential conservative pastors, Rogers participated in the advancement of a conservative political agenda in the United States. He stated that Christians have a duty to be involved in government, and that it is a sin for a Christian to abstain from voting in an election. Familial dynamics was a recurrent issue for Rogers. He focused most closely on fathers that he labeled "drop-out dads." According to Rogers, since the Bible emphasizes the paternal role in a family, the father should be the primary source of teaching in the home. He was critical of fathers who do not fulfill this role: "We have dads today that are interested in sports, business, and sex. They've forgotten their God-given assignments to teach the Ten Commandments." He went on to say that social problems, such as gun violence, are the consequences of fathers avoiding this responsibility. On the topic of pastoral endorsement of political candidates, he wrote that it is a pastor's duty to influence the political decisions of the members of the pastor's congregation. A pastor need not, however, endorse a specific candidate (and, under Internal Revenue Service regulations, a church cannot do so without losing its tax-exempt status). He wrote that "[i]f [a pastor] has done his job his members will prayerfully and correctly use the standard of God's Word to select the right candidate." " Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Rogers

That quote is a perfect example of why wealthy, conservative Southern Baptist PREACHERS are NOT economists -- or presidents.