“There is a need for financial reform along ethical lines that would produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone. This would nevertheless require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders.” NeedsPoliticalTurnsLinesAttitudeLeaderEconomicProduceBenefitsFinancialReformCourageousEthicalNeverthelessPolitical LeadersEconomic Reforms Book:Care for Creation: A Call for Ecological Conversion Source: Care for Creation: A Call for Ecological Conversion
“Campaign finance and ethics reform only works if it curtails all special interest groups equally and does not carve out any exceptions to benefit one party or another. 'Pay to play' reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work.” IfsTryingDoePlayBigsInterestPartyPayGroupsInfluenceSpecialLimitsBenefitsEthicsSpendingCampaignsFinanceReformOfficialsExceptionSpecial InterestsContractorInterest GroupsPublic OfficialsCampaign FinanceSpecial Interest Groups Author:Thomas Kean, Jr.
“The potential gains from improved stabilization policies are on the order of hundredths of a percent of consumption, perhaps two orders of magnitude smaller than the potential benefits of available supply-side fiscal reforms.” TwoOrderSidesPolicyBenefitsPercentGainsEconomicsAvailableReformConsumptionMagnitude Author:Robert Lucas, Jr.
“The forces that have worked hard to stoke populist anger against reform are the very ones that benefit from a health system which puts profits ahead of quality care for its patients.” HardCareForceQualityBenefitsPatientProfitReformPopulistHealth SystemStokeQuality Care Author:Jerrold Nadler
“Any government that has a sincere desire for reform and progress should understand the benefit of objective and constructive criticism.” ShouldGovernmentDesireProgressBenefitsCriticismObjectivesReformSincereConstructiveConstructive Criticism Author:Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
“... We have seen dog-tired Members of Congress marching lockstep ahead with their eyes fixed only on the end of the 100 Days of the 1995 Republican 'Contract with America' reform efforts. Many of the changes wrought by the House were passed without the benefit of a single hearing, or at best with a minimal legislative record. Is this what Jefferson and Madison had in mind?” MindEndsEyeAmericaHouseEffortRecordsDogInternetRepublicanMembersBenefitsTiredCongressHearingReformFixedContractsFree SpeechMadison Author:John Gibbons
“We should interact with legal reform tactically, knowing that it will not meet our ultimate goals but asking whether there are ways that engaging with particular reforms might benefit our work and help reduce certain harms or dangers.” WayShouldHelpingMightCertainGoalKnowingDangerParticularBenefitsUltimateAskingHarmReformEngagingUltimate Goal Author:Dean Spade
“If you don't try to generate more revenues through tax reform, if you don't ask, you know, the most fortunate Americans to bear a slightly larger burden of the privilege of being an American, then you have to - the only way to achieve fiscal sustainability is through unacceptably deep cuts in benefits for middle class seniors, or unacceptably deep cuts in national security.” IfsKnowsWayTryingAsksClassCuttingMiddleAchieveSecurityBearsTaxesBenefitsPrivilegeBurdenReformFortunateMiddle ClassSustainabilitySeniorNational SecurityRevenueTax Reform Author:Timothy Geithner
“I am always suspicious of the formulation that "politics" has prevented a great idea from being enacted by government. Politics IS government, in a democratic society. It's a challenge for school reformers, like reformers in any realm, to build a popular constituency for their work. If the people it's supposed to benefit vote against it, that tells me that the person pushing reform lacks political skill. And political skill is a good thing.” PeopleIfsPersonsIdeasGovernmentSchoolPoliticalChallengesSkillsBenefitsVoteGood ThingsDemocraticReformRealmsPushingSuspiciousGreat IdeaDemocratic SocietyReformersGovernment Politics Author:Nicholas Lemann
“Political changes and reforms do not usually favor the general populace. They benefit those who are positioned to best organize and advocate for their policies.” PoliticalPolicyBenefitsFavorsReformOrganizePolitical Change Author:Joel Miller
“In Egypt the neoliberal programs have meant statistical growth, like right before the Arab Spring, Egypt was a kind of poster child for the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund:] the marvelous economic management and great reform. The only problem was for most of the population it was a kind of like a blow in the solar plexus: wages going down, benefits being eliminated, subsidized food gone and meanwhile, high concentration of wealth and a huge amount of corruption.” WorldKindChildrenProblemGrowthWealthGoneEconomicHugeAmountBenefitsSpringProgramManagementInternationalPopulationBlowCorruptionReformConcentrationFundMarvelousEgyptWagesMonetaryPostersArab SpringImfWorld BankConcentration Of Wealth Author:Noam Chomsky
“What economic libralisation needs, if it is to succeed , is a general acceptance that reforms are for the general good, that they might seem to help some more than others, but that in the long run everyone will benefit from them. Such attitude is far from being realized” IfsNeedsLongHelpingSeemsMightRunningAttitudeEconomicAcceptanceSucceedBenefitsReformBeing RealLong Runs Author:Shashi Tharoor
“On the most recent battles on health insurance reform, the women led the battle to end gender discrimination by the insurance companies [where] women paid more and got less of a benefit, and also the whole issue of prevention.” EndsWholeCompanyIssuesBattleBenefitsPaidGenderDiscriminationReformPreventionInsurance CompaniesGender Discrimination Author:Barbara Mikulski
“People do not want to be disillusioned by the new president [Barak Obama]. The liberals felt, finally, this is our time. Now they're worried. Now what they see is more business as usual. We all want to give him the benefit of the doubt, we know it's a tough job and he inherited a mess, but at the end of the day, is it really change we can believe in when there's no public options and Wall Street reform has no teeth in it? It really looks a lot like we just changed the color.” PeopleKnowsWantGivingBelieveLooksEndsJobsFeltPresidentDoubtStreetsChangedColorWallBenefitsToughTeethMessReformWorriedOur TimeThe End Of The DayUsualDisillusionedBenefit Of The DoubtBarak Obama Author:Bill Maher
“People expect those in authority to take on big problems and to solve them. We had an opportunity to reform Social Security in a way that would have protected people's benefits and created a solvent system. Younger workers would be confident that the money they were putting into the system would be available to them when they retired. It was a missed opportunity. I regret that.” PeopleWayProblemBigsWould BeOpportunitySocialSecurityRegretAuthorityBenefitsWorkersAvailableSolveReformProtectedSocial SecurityRetiredI RegretBig ProblemsBe ConfidentMissed Opportunity Author:George W. Bush
“The main thrust of the Social Security reform was to get the benefit structure in line with the realities of the Trust Funds.” RealitySocialLinesSecurityBenefitsStructureReformFundSocial SecurityThrustTrust Funds Author:George W. Bush
“You can think of the Health Impact Fund as a mechanism that would keep the benefits and burdens of pharmaceutical innovation for the affluent roughly as they are while massively reducing the burdens presently imposed upon the poor. This sounds like magic. But it really works because the current system is not Pareto efficient. It's a system that generates hundreds of billions of dollars in litigation costs and deadweight losses that HIF-registered medicines would sidestep. By avoiding these losses, the HIF reform can bring improvements all around - including for pharmaceutical innovators.” ThinkingSoundLossPoorMagicCostBenefitsInnovationImpactDollarsMedicineIncludingCurrentsBurdenBillionsImprovementReformFundMechanismEfficientAvoidingWeight LossReducingInnovatorsAffluentPharmaceutical Author:Thomas Pogge
“But here's what I would tell people of my generation. I turn 40 this year. There isn't going to be a Social Security. There isn't going to be a Medicare when you retire. Forget about what your benefit is going to look like. There isn't going to be one if we don't make some reforms to save that program now.” PeopleIfsYearsLooksTurnsSocialForgetGenerationsSecurityBenefitsProgramReformRetiringSocial SecurityMy GenerationMedicare Author:Marco Rubio
“I'm going to be working the next 25 or 30 years. People like me, if we want, number one, for no benefit reductions for our parents and our grandparents, number two, for the system to survive and exist for us, and, more importantly, number three, for the system to exist for us children, we are going to have to make reforms to that system.” PeopleIfsWantYearsChildrenTwoThreeNextParentNumbersBenefitsLike MeReformGrandparentReductionNumber Three Author:Marco Rubio
“And there is no getting away from the fact - and this is a key point of discontent among many who are upset with the health care reform bill is it didn't go far enough. They say why isn't it in place now? Why don't I see some benefits now? All I see is the potential for losing insurance coverage, for premiums going up. That's hurting Obama.” EnoughFactsCareHurtKeysBenefitsLosingBillsReformHealth CareUpsetGet AwayDiscontentCoverageHealth Care Reform Author:Juan Williams