“Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And when a person does not understand the creation of resources and wealth, the only intellectual alternative is to believe that increasing wealth must be at the cost of someone else. This belief that our good fortune must be an exploitation of others may be the taproot of false prophecy about doom that our evil ways must bring upon us.” WayBelieveMayPersonsDoeHandsEvilBeliefProcessUnderstandingWealthEconomyCreationCostIntellectualResourcesFortuneAlternativesExploitationProphecyDoomGood FortuneHand In Hand Author:Julian Simon
“I am too sick to work and haven't money enough to last 2 months and pay income tax. I want to keep going but do not see quite how, and there is no alternative - rather than justify my mother's 25-year dread of my "coming back on her, sick," I must kill myself. If she has to pay funeral costs, at least she will cut them to the bone and I will not be here to endure her martyrdom and prolong it by living.” IfsWantYearsEnoughLastsMotherPayCuttingHavensMonthsCostTaxesSickEndureBonesIncomeAlternativesJustifyKeep GoingFuneralDreadComing BackIncome TaxMartyrdom Author:Rose Wilder Lane
“... between government, business, and the public, there is a triangular community of interest. Clearly, it is in business' interest to shape its behavior to prevailing public values; it is more efficient to do so than not to do so. It is also clear that government is the high-cost alternative through which public values are imposed on corporations that do not accurately perceive these values.” GovernmentValuesInterestCommunityClearCostShapesBehaviorAlternativesPerceiveCorporationsEfficientPrevailing Author:Juanita M. Kreps
“The discounting presumably is to be done for each period of time at that rate of interest which represents the alternative cost of employing capital in the occupation in question; that is, at the rate which the entrepreneur could obtain in other investments” DoneInterestPeriodsCostEntrepreneurInvestmentRateAlternativesOccupationEmploying Author:Kenneth E. Boulding
“Assuming that a tax increase is necessary, it is clearly preferable to impose the additional cost on land by increasing the land tax, rather than to increase the wage tax - the two alternatives open to the City (of Pittsburgh). It is the use and occupancy of property that creates the need for the municipal services that appear as the largest item in the budget - fire and police protection, waste removal, and public works. The average increase in tax bills of city residents will be about twice as great with wage tax increase than with a land tax increase.” NeedsTwoUseCitiesFireLandCostTaxesWasteIncreasePoliceBillsAssumingPropertyAverageProtectionAlternativesBudgetsItemsResidentsRemovalPittsburghTax IncreasesPolice Protection Author:Herbert Simon
“Given the fact that poverty is growing, more and more Americans are losing health insurance, health care costs are going up, the middle class is shrinking, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing wider. That speaks to the weakness of the opposition. People do not like George W. Bush. But I think it's fair to say that they are not flocking to the Democratic Party, or see the Democrats as a real alternative.” PeopleThinkingRealFactsCareSpeakGivenPoorPartyClassPovertyRichGrowingMiddleCostLosingWeaknessFairsDemocraticDemocratAlternativesHealth CareOppositionMiddle ClassGapsDemocratic PartyShrinkingHealth Care Costs Author:Bernie Sanders
“I'll never pay above the odds for something if there's a more cost-effective alternative, so I guess that's where the saver in me shines through.” IfsPayCostShiningAlternativesOdds Author:Andy Murray
“There would be a cost for dumping carbon into our atmosphere and a cap on total emissions. The government must make a clear and firm decision - terminating the idea in our society it is free to pump infinite amounts of carbon into the air. Once that happens, private capital will flow even more aggressively into developing and deploying the alternative, less-polluting technologies.” IdeasGovernmentHappensWould BeDecisionTechnologyClearAirAmountCostFlowInfiniteAlternativesDevelopingAtmosphereFirmOur SocietyCarbonCapsEmissionsPumpsDeployingFirm Decisions Author:Van Jones
“What sensible people have got to do is not simply repeal the Affordable Care Act without any alternative, but you've got to sit down and say it's OK, what are the problems. How do we address it? How do we move to universal health care? How do we lower prescription drug costs? How do we make sure that people don't have outrageous deductibles? You just don't throw 20 million people off of health insurance. You don't privatize Medicare.” PeopleProblemCareMovingMillionsCostDrugUniversalDown AndAlternativesHealth CareAddressesSensibleOutrageousAffordablePrescriptionsMedicarePrescription DrugsAffordable Care ActUniversal Health Care Author:John Lewis
“We don't have a great clash of civilizations, a clash of ideologies, a clash of alternative models, where governments thought to themselves, if we go too far, if we sort of trample unreasonably on rights, we'll give birth to a political movement which will cost us our credibility, and will possibly cost us our offices, because people will vote for the other team, the other guys.” PeopleIfsGivingGovernmentPoliticalGuyRightsTeamMovementBirthCivilizationCostOfficeModelsVoteIdeologyAlternativesCredibilityClashOther GuysPolitical MovementsClash Of Civilizations Author:Edward Snowden
“It's unilaterally true that it costs more to maintain the death penalty than the alternatives to it, and we can leverage more resources to victims families. We can do all sorts of creative ways of healing the pain that people have done by channeling the energy and resources to other more redemptive forms of justice.” PeopleWayDonePainFormEnergyCan DoJusticeHealingCreativeCostResourcesVictimAlternativesPenaltiesDeath PenaltyChanneling Author:Shane Claiborne
“It is irrational to charge high prices for socially valuable innovations as this guarantees that they will be underutilized. It is much better to sell them at cost and then to reward the innovator in some other way. This is not always possible, because in some cases the value of an innovation is in the eye of the beholder; it's very difficult to value how much a new Madonna song is worth, for example. But in the case of medicines, green technologies and seeds in agriculture, such an alternative reward mechanism is fairly straightforward.” WayEyeValuesSongDifficultCasesTechnologyExampleCostInnovationGreenSellsMedicineRewardsValuableSeedsAlternativesGuaranteesMechanismAgricultureIrrationalStraightforwardInnovatorsGuarantees ThatBeholderHigh PricesEye Of The BeholderGreen Technology Author:Thomas Pogge