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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Unheeded Advice from George Washington

Here's an admonition in George Washington's Farewell Address that everyone seems to have forgotten:
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.
Looks like we missed the boat on that one. Sorry, George.

2 comments:

  1. So I guess it's time for us to start avoiding wars (or military actions) and find that much needed time of peace in which we can vigorously discharge our debts.

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