Economic Quotes

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  It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

  Thomas Sowell

  Business, Stupid, Government

  "Wake Up, Parents!". Column at Jewish World Review, www.jewishworldreview.com. August 18, 2000.

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• Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.

  Nancy Pelosi

  Jobs, Stupid, Recovery

  "Nancy Pelosi is an idiot". Interview with Glenn Beck, www.glennbeck.com.

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• There are no two countries with the same style of economic mechanism, with the same capitalism.

  Anatoly Chubais

  Country, Two, Style

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• Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance.

  John F. Kennedy

  Business, People, Growth

  Kennedy, John F. (1962). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961”, p.178, Best Books on

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• Socialism is... not only a way of life, but a certain scientific approach to social and economic problems.

  Jawaharlal Nehru

  Eugenics, Way, Problem

  Jawaharlal Nehru (1963). “Jawaharlal Nehru on Community Development and Panchayati Raj”

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• True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Jobs, Freedom, People

  Franklin D. Roosevelt (1995). “The Essential Franklin Delano Roosevelt”, Gramercy

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• Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Political, Causes, Charity

  Martin Luther King Jr. (1963). “Strength to Love”

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• Government is not the generator of economic growth; working people are.

  Phil Gramm

  Government, People, Growth

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• Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Men, Liberty, Politics

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• The 'private sector' of the economy is, in fact, the voluntary sector; and the 'public sector' is, in fact, the coercive sector.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Political, Liberty, Libertarian

  Henry Hazlitt (1971). “Man Vs. the Welfare State”, p.121, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• 

  Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another.

  Milton Friedman

  Party, Pie, Liberty

  Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman (1990). “Free to Choose: A Personal Statement”, p.31, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Neoclassical economics insists that advertising cannot force consumers to buy anything they don't already want to buy.

  Christopher Lasch

  Want, Advertising, Economics

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• Capitalism works better from every perspective when the economic decision makers are forced to share power with those who will be affected by those decisions.

  Barney Frank

  Power, Perspective, Decision

  "The Sayings of Chairman Barney" by Richard Reeves, www.realclearpolitics.com. December 2, 2011.

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• An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

  Laurence J. Peter

  Funny, Business, Future

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• U.S. economic prosperity is closely tied to the availability of a reliable and affordable supply of energy.

  Cliff Stearns

  Availability, Energy, Prosperity

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• Under capitalism each individual engages in economic planning.

  George Reisman

  Planning, Finance, Individual

  George Reisman (1979). “The Government Against the Economy: The Story of the U.S. Government's On-going Destruction of the American Economic System Through Price Controls”, Green Hill Pub

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• Practically all government attempts to redistribute wealth and income tend to smother productive incentives and lead toward general impoverishment.

  Henry Hazlitt

  Government, Income, Incentives

  Henry Hazlitt (2010). “Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics”, p.228, Crown Business

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• Every government interference in the economy consists of giving an unearned benefit, extorted by force, to some men at the expense of others.

  Ayn Rand

  Humor, Men, Giving

  Ayn Rand (1988). “The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z”, p.240, Penguin

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• There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity.

  Chester Bowles

  Real, Insecurity, Individual

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• One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.

  Thomas Sowell

  President, Liberty, Complaining

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.328, Hoover Press

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• Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, Military, Moving

  Remarks to state chairs of National White House Conference on Small Business, 15 Aug. 1986

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• Every social injustice is not only cruel, but it is economic waste.

  William Feather

  Mean People, Waste, Injustice

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• It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

  Adam Smith

  Business, Invisible Hand, Government

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 1, bk. 1, ch. 2 (1776)

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• By providing outstanding economic leadership, this country can wage its attack successfully - and can thereby build the foundations of a peaceful world.

  James Forrestal

  Love, Leadership, Country

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• Seen that way, the wholesale transformation of production technologies that is mandated by pollution prevention creates a new surge of economic development.

  Barry Commoner

  Technology, Development, Prevention

  Interview with Alan Hall, www.scientificamerican.com. June 23, 1997.

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