“After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.”

We used to think like that!

And now that we've had so much government "help", what with tarriffs, regulations and bail outs, no one goes into business without the government acting as silent partner and parasite. Business is not the chief concern of the government...at least not as provided by the Constitution.

Now it seems that the chief concern of the Congress is to do as much as possible to stifle business. Our country has progressed in spite of, not beacuse of government. J Carlton has it right.

There is a direct correlation between true freedom and an entrepreneurial spirit. Now that the statist theology infesting this land has sufficiently stifled the people's business, the American entrepreneur has gone elsewhere to produce and prosper the world. The despots of the statist theology are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, and investing your where-with-all in to government jobs - all else being perceived evil.

I suppose in Silent Cal's day they did not have all the laws and regulations controlling business as they do today. Business could get down to business back then.

What happened to the Great Republicans? Teddy Roosevelt....of whom William Randolf Hearst said: "We bought him but he didn't stay bought..."

Robert, elaborate, why the thumb down?

Now we know why silent Cal stayed silent most of the time and he should have done so this time also. What a sad philosophic outlook. His dictum has found full fruition on the current TV show American Greed, in the likes of Bernie Madoff etcetera. This statement flies in the face of the high ideals of the founding fathers. Doesn't "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" sound like a little bit of a larger concept that his robotic view of the human being this statement expresses. Now business is important and doing good in business is fun but hell it is now the end all of existence.

Waffler, you've made some excellent points here as well as the other day when you spoke concerning a universal understanding of all men being created equal. A major problem comes in you comparisons and application. Here, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, law, justice, and individual inalienable rights are all the premise on which everything else was based. The quote's subject topic is business, not the fiscal laws that rule it, not the principles that make it moral, or any other foundational concept. Contrary to popular socialist left think, prosperity in the world could be a good thing and often falls under the pursuit of happiness. Bernie Madof was a hollow facade of the quote, a criminal like most government supporters of ponzi schemes, not

Waffler...You are correct that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are more important than financial gain. But life requires labor. Food and products have to be produced in order for life to continue. Liberty requires that everyone be able to choose an industry, invest as much labor as he wishes into that industry and keep the fruits of his labor. Happiness requires many different things for different people, much of which cannot be purchased with money or sustained with wealth. But nearly everyone can agree that some things that are necessary for happiness include food on the table, clothes on our backs, and a roof overhead; each of which are brought to us by business. You see business is entangled in many of our rights. Our economical system and our political system depend on each other. We cannot be socially free unless we are economically free. We do not have the right to life, property or the pursuit of happiness if someone else controls our avenue for acquiring them (business). In order to protect our own liberty, We the People must be able to control our own business without government interference.

I'm not sure what to think of this quote, given that Coolidge was one of the architects of the Depression!

chief business of the American people is business. I give a zero as there is no content here encouraging individual freedom. Rather a statement people are interested in business. Give me a break. Every American gets up and goes to work to produce. They come home to consume. What more is there to business.

Family is business.