“The necessity of every one paying in his own labor for what he consumes, affords the only legitimate and effectual check to excessive luxury, which has so often ruined individuals, states and empires; and which has now brought almost universal bankruptcy upon us.”

What is excessive luxury that it would bring about an almost universal bankruptcy? I am very familiar with the scriptural reference of "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." That is a measure at religion. A measure at fiscal law may be measured somewhat differently.

J. Warren warns we're in bankruptcy 'way back in the 18 hundreds ... and there still are people, especially politicians, who either don't believe it, think it's no big deal, or DON'T CARE !! ??

Very good question Mike ! " At religion " It is a measure of faith. Things that are not seen do add up. For a rich man or woman to understand their wealth is a gift from God, is a great step, then measured by their ability to give up those riches. Affection is what God requires of the individual, and is highly esteemed. So many examples from all quarters of the world bear this philosophy out. " And the rich man faired sumptuously." Moral bankruptcy, the obligation of first works comes to mind. Fiscal bankruptcy, borrowing beyond ones ability to repay. Spiritual wealth can be measured numerically, but this is a gift granted by God, called the measure of faith. Seeing over time, rich men and women, fiscally rich, and spiritually bankrupt is the law of cause and effect. "Seek after the spirit and you shall live " There is no truer a statement. He that is spiritual judges all things. Returning to the common core of Agrarianism, cultivation of the soil " Has within it a positive spiritual good " and from it the cultivator acquires the virtues of honor, manliness, self reliance, courage, Moral integrity and hospitality. The apostle Paul notes, good stewards should be given to hospitality. With Plato, the " Form that good is " from this comes all other forms. Art, beauty, justice, equity. ex. It does seem that pride and arrogance join closely with riches and leisure time. Servants are needed to tend to their lords. What we observe today as servants, a spit in the eye of the gift from God, to all people, Liberty and Freedom from oppression. Consumer sovereignty, individual sovereignty, set the market back to balance in a natural way. As the gold standard is stable. O for the days of small farms, when the Tinkerer came by to fix the hole in Mom's pot, and the merchants wagon could be heard coming down the dirt road, pots a clanking, wanting to sell the farmers wife a new pot. Those where very rich days indeed for the sovereign born free individual small farmer. Living in the home that his father built on the homestead his grandfather started who lived in his home on the other end of the farm. Our inheritance robbed at the point of a gun. And it was wind power that drew the water from the well. They doted the landscape across the county. The industrial revolution has ruined the lives of so many families, it is sickening to think what it has done to the world.

What on earth is "excessive luxury" and who decides what it is.

Josiah Warren is saying that the necessity of having to labor for the fruits of those labors IS the check against excessive luxury. What is excessive? Consuming more fruits than those produced by one's own labors -- as history has shown for individuals and empires alike -- that is bankruptcy. The US government has been bankrupted several times, usually resulting in the revoking the charter of the central bank that brought them to such a fate. When allowed to prosper without 'debt-as-money' currency, the US again rose up out of the ashes. The US is currently still operating in bankruptcy under the receivership of the Federal Reserve (a consortium of private international banks). The Federal Reserve Bank's charter is renewable every 20 years. One year, the US military should seize the Federal Reserve buildings and offices, all employees and officers, and seize the assets of this counterfeiting operation and return them to the People.