Interest Rate Quotes

• A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank.

  Ron Paul

  Sound, Saving, Credit

  Ron Paul (2008). “Pillars of Prosperity: Free Markets, Honest Money, Private Property”, p.43, Ludwig von Mises Institute

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• Interest rates are to asset prices what gravity is to the apple. When there are low interest rates, there is a very low gravitational pull on asset prices.

  Warren Buffett

  Apples, Assets, Lows

  4 Copy quote

• Nobody can predict interest rates, the future direction of the economy or the stock market. Dismiss all such forecasts and concentrate on what's actually happening to the companies in which you've invested

  Peter Lynch

  Economy, Interest, Rate

  Peter Lynch (2012). “Beating the Street”, p.307, Simon and Schuster

  21 Copy quote

  Show source

• A lower interest rate doesn't make a debt go away.

  Dave Ramsey

  Going Away, Debt, Interest

  5 Copy quote

• Public opinion always wants easy money, that is, low interest rates.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Money, Public Opinion, Want

  "A Critique of Interventionism". Book by Ludwig von Mises, p. 163, 1929.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• You know what higher interest rates mean. To you it means a higher mortgage payment, a higher car payment, a higher credit card payment. To our economy, it means business people will not borrow as much money, invest as much money, create as many new jobs, create as much wealth, raise as many raises.

  William J. Clinton

  Jobs, Mean, Car

  William J. Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention, articles.baltimoresun.com. August 30, 1996.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• It all comes down to interest rates. As an investor, all you're doing is putting up a lump-sump payment for a future cash flow.

  Ray Dalio

  Cash Flow, Payment, Interest

  "RAY DALIO: The US Economy Is Facing A Rare Set Of Circumstances That Will Be Bad For Markets" by Joe Weisenthal, www.businessinsider.com. December 12, 2012.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• The art of banking is always to balance the risk of a run with the reward of a profit. The tantalizing factor in the equation is that riskier borrowers pay higher interest rates. Ultimate safety - a strongbox full of currency - would avail the banker nothing. Maximum risk - a portfolio of loans to prospective bankrupts at usurious interest rates - would invite disaster. A good banker safely and profitably treads the middle ground.

  James Grant

  Running, Art, Safety

  8 Copy quote

• If inflation-adjusted interest rates decline in a given country, its currency is likely to decline.

  Ray Dalio

  Country, Currency, Decline

  13 Copy quote

• I do not like debt and do not like to invest in companies that have too much debt, particularly long-term debt. With long-term debt, increases in interest rates can drastically affect company profits and make future cash flows less predictable.

  Warren Buffett

  Cash Flow, Long, Too Much

  13 Copy quote

• Mr. Greenspan did a very good job in the early 1990's. But recently he's fallen prey to this crazy theory that prosperity causes inflation. So they're trying to slow the economy down by raising interest rates. It's like a doctor saying you're in great health, so we have to make you sick a little bit. It's a bizarre theory. It's going to hurt our economy.

  Steve Forbes

  Hurt, Jobs, Crazy

  3 Copy quote

• If you happen to be the only one with negative interest rates, you also weaken your currency, which means you make your exports more competitive.

  Mohamed El-Erian

  Mean, Negative, Currency

  Source: www.pbs.org

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The single biggest issue that I'm very sensitive to is inflation. I'm very concerned that this extended period where the interest rates were quite low and stimulated a lot of activity could breed inflation and create a problem for us.

  Sam Zell

  Issues, Problem, Economics

  "Zell tells of optimistic outlook on real estate". Interview with Denny Gainer, usatoday30.usatoday.com. May 2, 2004.

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Imagine you owe on five credit cards, you owe five debts. So which debt should you pay first? And the answer is very simple: You should pay the one with the highest interest rate first. But that's not what people do.

  Dan Ariely

  Simple, People, Pay

  "Mental depletion complicates financial decisions for the poor". Interview with Kristen Doerer, www.pbs.org. January 19, 2016.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The one instrument that has relative political autonomy is monetary policy. Central banks do not need to go to Congress to get approval for an interest rate hike.

  Mohamed El-Erian

  Political, Needs, Approval

  Source: www.pbs.org

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• How long can interest rates stay negative? Think about this. Not only are you lending your money to governments, but you're paying them interest for the privilege of doing so.

  Mohamed El-Erian

  Thinking, Government, Long

  Source: www.pbs.org

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The reality is that business and investment spending are the true leading indicators of the economy and the stock market. If you want to know where the stock market is headed, forget about consumer spending and retail sales figures. Look to business spending, price inflation, interest rates, and productivity gains.

  Mark Skousen

  Reality, Want, Gains

  The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Vol. 60, Nr. 3-10, (p. 7), 2010.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• An overheating economy, characterized by accelerating inflation and rising interest rates, is another precondition for recession. This doesn't describe today's economy.

  Mark Zandi

  Rising, Today, Economy

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Eurobonds are absolutely wrong. In order to bring about common interest rates, you need similar competitiveness levels, similar budget situations. You don't get them by collectivizing debts.

  Angela Merkel

  Order, Needs, Debt

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I think everybody in this generation, and I'm the leading edge of the baby boom - I was born in 1946 - has benefitted from a 30-year explosion of debt, which created temporary but unsustainable economic prosperity and a financialization of the system through lower, and lower, and lower interest rates that has created massive rewards to speculation but not real investments so I benefitted from it. Almost everyone who has been in the market has benefitted but they didn't earn it.

  David Stockman

  Baby, Real, Thinking

  Source: www.pbs.org

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• The underlying strategy of the Fed is to tell people, "Do you want your money to lose value in the bank, or do you want to put it in the stock market?" They're trying to push money into the stock market, into hedge funds, to temporarily bid up prices. Then, all of a sudden, the Fed can raise interest rates, let the stock market prices collapse and the people will lose even more in the stock market than they would have by the negative interest rates in the bank. So it's a pro-Wall Street financial engineering gimmick.

  Michael Hudson

  Wall, Engineering, People

  Source: www.counterpunch.org

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• Where countries have been able to carry through on their reform commitments - as in Korea, Thailand and the Philippines - results are starting to come in the form of lower interest rates, new investment and increased growth.

  Lawrence Summers

  Country, Commitment, Korea

  "Clinton's Capitulation on China". The Washington Post, April 12, 1999.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I have long argued that paying down the national debt is beneficial for the economy: it keeps interest rates lower than they otherwise would be and frees savings to finance increases in the capital stock, thereby boosting productivity and real incomes.

  Alan Greenspan

  Real, Long, Debt

  Remarks by Chairman Alan Greenspan before the Bond Market Association, White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, www.federalreserve.gov. April 27, 2001.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• It's an earnings-driven market. The big question is whether the flow of earnings can rescue the market from the twin dreadnoughts of higher oil and interest rates.

  Larry Wachtel

  Oil, Earning, Flow

  3 Copy quote

• Of course, looking tough on inflation is part of any central banker's job description: if investors believe that inflation is going to get out of control, you end up with higher interest rates and capital flight, and a vicious circle quickly ensues.

  James Surowiecki

  Jobs, Believe, Circles

  "Inflated Fears". www.newyorker.com. September 14, 2009.

  3 Copy quote

  Show source