Paul Simon Quotes
It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor. Outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure. It's a blessing to wash your face in the summer solstice rain. It's outrageous a man like me stand here and complain. But I'm tired.
Paul Frederic Simon, Song Writer & Entertainer, “Outrageous”
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There were few if any consumer protection laws in those days and many wealthy aristocrats made their money by taking advantage of the poor. They were the landowners, bankers, financiers and often the industrialists. Shaw was a sarcastic social critic and this is a typical line he gave his upper class characters. Today, we have more controls on business and finance, and many wealthy business people have gotten that way by providing great value to the consumers and being honest. However, we still have large numbers of wealthy members of society who do make their money from the poor and middle class by unethical and often illegal means. In the aftermath of the Meltdown of 2008. hundreds of thousands of the homes of the working poor and middle class were foreclosed by the major banks forging the legal documentation for the foreclusures. Millions of consumer contracts are issued that even a PhD cannot understand the terms of without special legal and financial training. There is even a legal definition of a salesperson lying to make a sale which is so commonplace that our law excuses it and calls it "puffing". However, there has been over time, improvement over Shaw's era.
In the Civil War a drafted conscript could pay money instead of serving in the army. Many rich and middle class men did so leaving a higher proportion of the poor to be drafted. The song is sometimes misattributed to William Cullen Bryant.
Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
He was warning that the corporations and monopolies were taking advantage of the poor who, if there is not some balance of redress and justice will resort to violence such as the man who just short him. He gave the speech still bleeding with the bullet lodged in his body. He refused to go to a hospital or get medical care until he had finished his speech. See {633076}.
Paul Frederic Simon is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor. Simon's musical career has spanned over six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the best songwriters in popular music history.
