“I took the position of organizing 126 Democrats who voted against the Iraq war resolution. And I happen to think it was the right position. Today we're faced with over 500 casualties, a cost of over $200 billion, and it could rise the casualties could go into the thousands and the costs could go over a half trillion if we stay there for years, as a number of people on this stage intend to see happen.” PeopleIfsThinkingYearsWarHappensTodayNumbersHalfStagePositionCostDemocratIraqBillionsResolutionIraq WarCasualtiesOver 50 Author:Dennis Kucinich
“Our approach to existential risks cannot be one of trial-and-error. There is no opportunity to learn from errors. The reactive approach - see what happens, limit damages, and learn from experience - is unworkable. Rather, we must take a proactive approach. This requires foresight to anticipate new types of threats and a willingness to take decisive preventive action and to bear the costs (moral and economic) of such actions.” HappensActionOpportunityMoralRiskEconomicTypeBearsCostLimitsApproachThreatErrorsTrialsDamageWillingnessExistentialAnticipateForesightProactiveLearning ExperienceTrial And ErrorOpportunities To Learn Author:Nick Bostrom
“The biggest weakness of the green-consumer movement, always, is that we tend to pick the easy-to-do things because that's where we can most readily engage people. It doesn't cost them very much to switch products or whatever it happens to be.” PeopleHappensEasyMovementProductsCostPicksWeaknessGreenConsumers Author:John Elkington
“Finding a single investment that will return 20% per year for 40 years tends to happen only in dreamland. In the real world, you uncover an opportunity, and then you compare other opportunities with that. And you only invest in the most attractive opportunities. That's your opportunity cost. That's what you learn in freshman economics. The game hasn't changed at all. That's why Modern Portfolio Theory is so asinine.” WorldYearsRealHappensOpportunityGamesModernChangedTheoryReturnCostFindingsEconomicsInvestmentCompareAttractiveReal WorldPortfoliosFreshmanDreamlandOpportunity Cost Author:Charlie Munger
“I don't think that the administration is being particularly honest with the American people about what this is going to cost in life and in dollars, what the dangers are, retaliatory strikes, once it happens. This is not a war that needs to happen immediately, if ever.” PeopleIfsThinkingNeedsWarHappensHonestDangerCostDollarsStrikesAdministration Author:Janeane Garofalo
“One of the biggest reasons for higher medical costs is that somebody else is paying those costs, whether an insurance company or the government. What is the politicians' answer? To have more costs paid by insurance companies and the government. ... [H]aving someone else pay for medical care virtually guarantees that a lot more of it will be used. Nothing would lower costs more than having each patient pay those costs. And nothing is less likely to happen.” ReasonGovernmentHappensCareUsedAnswersPayCompanyHigherPoliticianCostPaidPatientMedicalGuaranteesGuarantees ThatInsurance CompaniesMedical Care Author:Thomas Sowell
“It so happens that America, according to all the polls that are out there, is pretty progressive. So you're not going to see messages that support Ayn Randian individualism at the cost of the whole, because most people don't agree with that.” PeopleWholeHappensAmericaSupportCostMessagesAgreeProgressiveIndividualismPolls Author:Adam McKay
“They're [[harmaceuticals companies] just making a killing out of people's death. And they're benefiting by people's suffering. And I find that obscene. I find it ridiculous in this day and age, that that would happen. And it took President Clinton to go to rogue pharmaceutical companies to copy the antiretroviral drugs for a fraction of the cost.” PeopleHappensAgeSufferingPresidentCompanyCostDrugClintonKillingRidiculousCopiesThis DayFractionsRoguesObscenePharmaceuticalPresident ClintonPharmaceutical Companies Author:Elton John
“It happens a little bit more in the West, where there's more fluid - where everybody's originally from somewhere else. So they have a little bit more permission to do it. It happens the least, at the individual level at least, in the South, because the South has very strong, you know, set up black churches and white churches and a long history of that, and so it's a bigger social cost.” KnowsLittlesLongHappensIndividualStrongSocialBitsBlackChurchWhiteLevelsCostLittle BitBiggerWestSouthVery StrongPermissionSomewhere ElseFluidBlack Church Author:Michael Emerson
“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
“[The U.S. Treasury] can borrow basically unlimited amounts. They can stay there for years and years. These assets will be worth more money over time. So when Merrill Lynch sells a bunch of mortgage-related assets at 22 cents on the dollar like they did a month or so ago, the buyer goes - is going to make money, and he's going to make a lot more money if it happens to be an institution like the U.S. government which has very, very cheap borrowing costs.” IfsYearsGovernmentHappensMonthsAmountCostInstitutionsSellsDollarsBunchMaking MoneyRelatedAssetsCentsMore MoneyUnlimitedMortgageBorrowingTreasuryBuyers Author:Warren Buffett
“Everybody is talking about synergies. You've got to take out every cost you possibly can. You have to position yourself as your services change.You have to think about in five years from now what is going to happen technologically to you. And then you do have to think about M&A or your balance sheet, and you have to think about everything in the context of, "Am I prepared to meet that challenge?".” ThinkingYearsHappensChallengesTalkingFivePositionBalanceCostPreparedFive YearsSheetsSynergyBalance Sheets Author:Ken Moelis