Preying on the Vulnerable Quotes
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.
The States sold bonds to finance the Revolutionary War. Some states had better prospects for redeeming their bonds than others. Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina in particular had poorer prospects than most and their bonds were selling at about 25 cents on the dollar. Alexander Hamilton, then the Secretary of the Treasury, wanted the new Federal government to assume the state’s war debt and pay off the bonds. He made his proposal for how he would accomplish this on January 14, 1790. He delivered his report and proposal to Congress “Report on the Public Credit”. As soon as Hamilton’s proposal was read in Congress, sophisticated speculators set off for the Southern States to buy up as many bonds as they could before the owners found out that a Federal bail-out was under serious consideration. They could easily double, triple or even quadruple their money. To Jackson this was gross immorality. Other representatives had a different point of view. See {619928} & {619939}.
Ryan became an expert in religious cults. He was murdered investigating one. He is the first Congressman to die in the line of duty. “Fagin” is the character of Charles Dickens who exploits orphans and homeless children. Freedom of Religion allows some religions and cults all kinds of religious abuses and fraudulent fund raising that would be criminal if done by a private company or individual. However, that freedom has produced more new genuine religions in America, than the rest of the world. The Mormons and Pentecostals are just two.
Yamamoto planned and commanded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. However, he thought that the Japanese Declaration of War would be delivered in Washington before the attack as was required then by the international rules of war. The Japanese Government however did not deliver the war declaration until after the attack. Yamamoto was not only distressed about the non delivery but was concerned that the “sneak attack” was going to motivate the Americans to an all out war, when the Japanese strategy had been to negotiate a rapid peace giving them more freedom of action in the Pacific. Yamamoto was right. “Remember Pearl Harbor” became the rallying cry, and America would accept no peace other than Japanese Unconditional Surrender.
