Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky

Quote by Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky

“What would've happened, do you think, had the government not intervened in October 2008? The catastrophe to the economy would've been absolutely unbelievable. And yet classical economists say, "Oh, well, no, it would've adjusted perfectly happily, a few weeks of pain and then everything would've gone on as before, without a banking system left." And that's what makes it so maddening, that these bankers are back saying it was all the government's fault. The government saved their skins. It didn't want to, but it needed to save their skins in order to save the rest of us.”

Quote by Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky

Create image

Author

Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky
Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky

Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, is a distinguished British historian, born on April 25, 1939. He is renowned for his in-depth research into Keynesian economics, authoring several works, including the multi-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes. more

You May Also Like

“Opening a small business is a reasonable thing for you to do but should tax payer, should an ordinary worker have to pay more money in taxes because someone across the street from them opened up a business which might well go under? For a lot of people opening a business is a bad choice for them. Most small businesses fail. I understand people wanting to give it a try and everything but we're not necessarily doing them a favor to say, take all your life savings, borrow to the hilt, and then struggle for three years and end up with nothing. We're not necessarily doing them a favor.”

PeopleGivingTryingChoicesStruggleFailingTaxesSmall BusinessLife Saving
Author:Dean Baker
Create image

“You do just have to go back to moral philosophy and you've got to say, okay, there is greed, people do want more and more, but then what restrains them and what restrained them in the past was a view of life in which one's satisfaction wasn't the most important thing, that you just, you needed enough and you could say, "Enough is enough." Maybe religion will get you there, maybe just classic moral philosophy, but you have to have some of that, or else you're always on the gravy train.”

PeopleImportantEnoughPhilosophyPastMoralOkayTrainGreedClassicMoral Philosophy
Author:Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky
Create image

“I know many Europeans and I think many of them don't even believe me when I say that people in US don't have vacations. Obviously a lot of people do but there are many, tens of millions of people that don't and there's certainly no guarantee of a vacation. So paid time off is very valuable where people know they could get four or five weeks vacation, which is absolutely standard in Europe. Denmark has 6 weeks. So I think that's something that's very valuable, giving people time off.”

PeopleThinkingGivingBelieveWeekValuableVacationBelieve In Me
Author:Dean Baker
Create image

“For instance, members of the elite will never allow their children to become musicians normally, because it's - not embarrassing - but it's not done. There's a very famous composer from the '70s from a well-known family that disowned him, and he's a man, so there's this historical precedence with their relationships with musicians - not so much music as it's this abstract thing - but externally with artists.”

MenChildrenDoneArtistMusicianHistoricalAbstractComposerEmbarrassingVery Famous
Author:Ayshay
Create image

“It's not enough say, "Look, bankers were immensely greedy and that they committed lots of frauds." I mean, that's not, they were set free, that sort of particular proclivity in human nature was set free to do its best and its worst. Politicians and regulators are consumers of ideas. They never have any ideas of their own, it would take too much like hard work to develop ideas, you get them off menus and you pick the ones that suit you. Financial services were set free to go beyond their rightful place, a place by which they have been restrained in the past.”

MeanEnoughPastWorstHuman NatureHard WorkPoliticianFinancialCommittedFraudGreedy
Author:Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky
Create image

“I think that we are passionate creatures who really live our fullest life when we are deeply engaged, when we feel successes, and exult in them, when we feel losses and tragedies and are hurt by them. So I came to the conclusion that Eastern ideas of withdrawal may not be right for modern Westerners. If you read the ancient texts, they're pretty severe. I mean, they really are not the sort of thing that you would think compatible with really throwing yourself into life and being a part of it.”

ThinkingMeanHurtLossModernTragedyAncientPassionateConclusionEastern
Author:Jonathan Haidt
Create image