“The public is hedged about by so many goddam bookkeepers that no time is left in which to produce. More time is spent in carrying out garbage than in carrying in food.”

A little tongue-in-cheek humor to drive home a festering point that the statist theocracy that now infests this land is upside down and, all about the nation's destruction rather than its progress.

He is right on! In some Utopia where all folks behave, respect each others' rights, property, etc., no rules are needed. The Ten Commandments stand as an early set of rules for life. The devil in man is the constant, nagging question, "OK, but what if?" Without cutting any slack to our law-makers at all levels, it is an impossible task. Only when one attempts to do it does he/she become aware of this. "Because I said so!" does take care of kids until they can knock you down or don't need your car, money, food, roof, etc. "Because God said so!" takes care of a whole bunch more. 2000 pages for a health care law. It is simply absurd. No one can possibly know what it says. Lawyers make most of their money on punctuation errors in laws. A wise and seasoned business friend counseled me to challenge any law as invalid that was causing any problem. There are enough errors made in the drafting of laws that a good lawyer can break any one of them in court. Even if he can't, the appeal process is endless let alone what the media will do to stay in business.

Obvioulsy Mr. Fisher wrote this before the last great financial debacle. What that debacle proved is that we need more and more accountants and bookkeeprs not less. When the supermarkets dispense with cashiers and let their customers tally up their own grocery order (without the aid of electronic scanners) and pay what they determine to be correct, then we will have arrived at the nirvana or utopia J.B. is dreaming of. Until then more bookkeepers I say, more bookkeepers!

Bookkeepers, Tax Collectors, Licence issuers...stand in line to receive your priveleges comrade! Bureacracy is another symptom of a diseased nation and an institution put to great use by Stalin himself. Without a radical return to a Republic we will soon lkose the last of our freedoms. But if we do need more bookkeepers I say we turn them loose on The Federal Reserve where there is obviously no accountibilty and no responsibilty in place.

An example of this quote is the amount of time and money spent by businesses doing the paper work required by the bureaucrats in Washington. This adds considerably to the price of all goods and services purchased by you and me.

Hence the increase in government and military personnel - our economy will soon be based on 100% turnover of government employment. Though I am still for Universal Health Care it's now the only worth while thing we can do for humanity, that and do away with property tax.

Consider just our tax code alone-endless pages and opinions.

Only a bookkeeper would disagree...

Bureaucracy is the ultimate drain on any society. The wealth of a nation pays its 'leaders' to produce nothing but laws and the bigger government gets the more bloated the unproductive bureauracracies get. Its called suffocation by the weight of the fat asses who prefer cushy jobs and are justified by saying I'm here to help you.

Bookkeepers and especially cost accountants are the backbone of the nation and the economy. Only thieves and purely self centered individuals would disdain an accurate accounting of transactions between people and within society.

Yes anonymous, but don't even try to pretend our government operates under this criteria. Wasn't it only ten years ago the pentagon"lost" 3 trillion because of computers that couldn't communicate with each other? And let's not forget the new transparency promised by the new administration that has them meeting behind closed doors so the masters can't see all the good things our servants are up to for our benefit. 100% sarcasm intended. The self centered thieves are running our government and no argument will keep the truth buried. Truth is all that matters.

Anon, that is exactly right. It isn't about honest transactions. Most of us have to hire bookkeepers to protect ourselves from tax extortionists. In other words, to keep "them" honest. Which creates a huge drain on our time and resources and gives "them" a tremendous level of control over our productive efforts. If it looks like communism, sounds like communism.....

Totally agree. The real job is in production.

Only accurate and certified financial statements can give society the information it needs to make rational decisions about lending, investing, etcetera. If financial statements are worthless then all hell brakes loose.

The US foreign policy is a fine example... we spend trillions on wars and very little on love and happiness...