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Capitalism Quotes

Browse 2965 quotes about Capitalism.

Capitalism Quotes

“For nearly two centuries, scholars and politicians have debated the future of capitalism. Its critics, most prominent among them Karl Marx, have seen capitalism as intrinsically unstable, full of contradictions that will lead eventually to its collapse. Its supporters see it as the best way to allocate resources and rewards. Some even hint that the democratic capitalistic society is not just a phase in the historical evolution of economic systems but its ultimate end.”

“The idea that the profits of capital are really the rewards of a just society for the foresight and thrift of those who sacrificed the immediate pleasures of spending in order that society might have productive capital, had a certain validity in the early days of capitalism, when productive enterprise was frequently initiated through capital saved out of modest incomes.”

Source: Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics

“Understanding capitalism is in some ways simple. At its best, capitalism rewards creators, makers and providers: the people and firms that create valuable things for others, like imaginative technologies and good food, cars and drugs.”

People Way Understanding Simple Technology Car Drug Capitalism Rewards Creator Valuable Firm Makers Imaginative Good Food Providers Valuable Things

Author:Geoff Mulgan

“Economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment, injury, imprisonment, destruction. The businessman's tool is values; the bureaucrat's tool is fear.”

Source: The Ayn Rand Lexicon: Objectivism from A to Z

“The problem with capitalism is that it best rewards the worst part of us: the ruthless, competitive, conniving, opportunistic, acquisitive drives, giving little reward and often much punishment-or at least much handicap-to honesty, compassion, fair play, many forms of hard work, love of justice, and a concern for those in need.”

“The reward of commercial civilization is the ability to consume a never-ending array of products.There are limits beyond which commodities cannot be multiplied without preventing their consumers from affirming themselves through the exercise of their personal freedom.When market dependence reaches a certain threshold it deprives people of their power to live creatively and to act autonomously. And precisely because this new impotence is so deeply experienced, it is expressed with difficulty.”

“Now virtue may not always be its own reward, but in any case it is not usually bought and paid for at market rates.”

May Cases Virtue Capitalism Paid Rewards Rate

Author:Kenneth Arrow

“Capitalism demands the best of every man - his rationality - and rewards him accordingly. It leaves every man free to choose the work he likes, to specialize in it, to trade his product for the products of others, and to go as far on the road of achievement as his ability and ambition will carry him.”

Men Ability Liberty Products Demand Achievement Ambition Capitalism Trade Rewards Every Man Likes Rationality

Book:For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)

Source: For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand (50th Anniversary Edition)

“To those critics who see capitalism as a system of inegalitarian, oppressive structures, its defenders have vaunted its ability to recognize and encourage what they call individual merit and asserted not only the desirability but also the inevitability of differential reward, of earned privilege, so to speak.”

Individual Speak Ability Capitalism Structure Critics Rewards Privilege Merit Defenders Inevitability Desirability

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“The mode of reconciling the promise of ever-increasing reward for the cadres and the demands of the working classes for a quid pro quo for their loyalty to the state was to offer the latter a small piece of the pie.”

States Class Pieces Promise Offers Demand Capitalism Rewards Loyalty Latter Pie Working Class Small Pieces Cadre Quid Pro Quo

Author:Immanuel Wallerstein

“A tight-money policy reinforces inequality in two ways. Its high interest rates disproportionately reward the rich, and the resulting unemployment disproportionately punishes the poor.”

Way Two Interest Poor Rich Policy Capitalism Rewards Rate Inequality Unemployment Two Ways Interest Rate

Book:Shooting the hippo: death by deficit and other Canadian myths

Source: Shooting the hippo: death by deficit and other Canadian myths

“America traditionally represents the greatest possibility of someone's going from nothing to something. Why? In theory, if not practice, the government stays out of the way and lets individuals take risks and reap rewards or accept the consequences of failure. We call this capitalism - or, at least, we used to.”

Ifs Way Government America Used Individual Accepting Practice Risk Possibility Theory Capitalism Consequence Rewards Reap

Author:Larry Elder

“There's definitely evidence that capitalism at its most ruthless rewards psychopathic behavior. When you look at the worst corners of the American health insurance industry or the sub-prime banking market, it really feels like the more psychopathically someone behaves, the more it's rewarded.”

Feels Looks Worst Industry Behavior Evidence Capitalism Rewards Corners Behave Prime Banking Ruthless Psychopathic

Author:Jon Ronson