“England was killed by an idea: the idea that the weak, indolent and profligate must be supported by the strong, industrious, and frugal – to the degree that tax-consumers will have a living standard comparable to that of taxpayers; the idea that government exists for the purpose of plundering those who work to give the product of their labor to those who do not work. The economic and social cannibalism produced by this communist-socialist idea will destroy any society which adopts it and clings to it as a basic principle – ANY society.” GivingIdeasGovernmentPurposeStrongSocialPrinciplesEconomicProductsTaxesDegreesStandardsLaborWeakEnglandConsumersCommunistSocialistTaxpayersIndustriousBasic PrinciplesCannibalismFrugal Author:Dan Smoot
“The standard of living has risen along with the size of the world's population since the beginning of recorded time. There is no convincing economic reason why these trends toward a better life should not continue indefinitely.” WorldShouldReasonEconomicStandardsSizePopulationReason WhyTrendsBetter LifeConvincingRisenStandards Of Living Author:Julian Simon
“Today, we have our own concentrations of economic power. Instead of Standard Oil, U.S. Steel, the Union Pacific Railroad, and J. P. Morgan and Company, we have Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft.” TodayCompanyEconomicStandardsUnionsOilApplesConcentrationGoogleSteelMicrosoftPacificAmazonRailroadsEconomic PowerStandard Oil Author:George Packer
“There are many well-meaning people today who work at placing an economic floor beneath all of us so that no one shall exist below a certain level or standard of living, and certainly we don't quarrel with this. But look more closely and you may find that all too often these well-meaning people are building a ceiling above which no one shall be permitted to climb and between the two are pressing us all into conformity, into a mold of standardized mediocrity.” PeopleWellsLooksMayTwoTodayCertainLevelsEconomicBuildingStandardsEconomicsOppressionClimbsConformityMediocrityQuarrelsMoldCeilingsStandards Of Living Author:Ronald Reagan
“Excessively precise economic analysis can lead to assessing everything in terms of its easily measurable melt value - the value that thieves get from stealing copper wiring from isolated houses, that vandals got from tearing down Greek temples for the lead joints holding the marble blocks together, that shortsighted timber companies get from liquidating their forests. The standard to insist on is live value. What is something worth when it's working?” TogetherValuesHouseTermCompanyEconomicStandardsStealingForestsBlockAnalysisGreekTemplesIsolatedThievesPreciseJointsMarbleCopperTimberWiringAssessingVandals Author:Stewart Brand
“The raw fact is that every successful example of economic development this past century every case of a poor nation that worked its way up to a more or less decent, or at least dramatically better, standard of living has taken place via globalization, that is, by producing for the world market rather than trying for self-sufficiency.” WorldWayTryingSelfFactsPastNationsPoorCasesSuccessfulTakenEconomicCenturyExampleDevelopmentStandardsDecentGlobalizationStandards Of LivingEconomic DevelopmentSelf SufficiencySufficiencyEconomic GlobalizationPoor Nations Author:Paul Krugman
“Inflationism, however, is not an isolated phenomenon. It is only one piece in the total framework of politico-economic and socio-philosophical ideas of our time. Just as the sound money policy of gold standard advocates went hand in hand with liberalism, free trade, capitalism and peace, so is inflationism part and parcel of imperialism, militarism, protectionism, statism and socialism.” IdeasHandsSoundPiecesEconomicPolicyStandardsCapitalismGoldPhilosophicalTradeInvestingSocialismOur TimeLiberalismPhenomenonIsolatedImperialismFrameworkHand In HandFree TradeOne PieceMilitarismParcelGold StandardProtectionism Book:On the Manipulation of Money and Credit Source: On the Manipulation of Money and Credit
“Under the old social philosophy which had governed the Middle Ages, temporal, and therefore all economic, activities were referred to an eternal standard. The production of wealth, it distribution and exchange were regulated with a view to securing the Christian life of Christian men. In two points especially was this felt: First in securing the independence of the family, which can only be done by the wide distribution of property, in others words the prevention of the growth of a proletariat; secondly, in the close connection between wealth and public function.” MenFirstsTwoDonePhilosophyAgeChristianPoliticsSocialFeltGrowthWealthViewsEconomyEconomicMiddleActivityEternalStandardsConnectionsFunctionIndependencePropertyProductionsWideChristian LifeLiberalismDistributionMiddle AgesPreventionProletariat Author:Hilaire Belloc
“With Michigan's economic future on the line, we can't afford to have our 500 local school districts marching in different directions. Instead, we need a high standards, mandatory curriculum to get all our students on the road to higher education and a good paying job.” NeedsDifferentSchoolJobsLinesEconomicStudentsHigherStandardsLocalsCurriculumMichiganHigher EducationDifferent DirectionsHigh StandardsSchool Districts Author:Jennifer Granholm
“The problems raised by a conscious direction of economic affairs on a national scale inevitably assume even greater dimensions when the same is attempted internationally. The conflict between planning and freedom cannot but become more serious as the similarity of standards and values among those submitted to a unitary plan diminishes.” ProblemValuesGreaterPlansEconomicSeriousConflictStandardsConsciousAssumingRaisedAffairScalesPlanningDimensionsDiminishSimilarityStandards And Values Author:Friedrich August von Hayek
“We measure the success of schools not by the kinds of human beings they promote but by whatever increases in reading scores they chalk up. We have allowed quantitative standards, so central to the adult economic system, to become the principal yardstick for our definition of our children's worth.” HumansKindChildrenSchoolReadingHuman BeingsEducationEconomicStandardsAdultsIncreaseOur ChildrenDefinitionsScorePrincipalEconomic SystemsChalkYardsticks Author:Kenneth Keniston
“Similarly, payments for a dead soldier amount to only $500,000, which is far less than standard estimates of the lifetime economic cost of a death. This statistical value of a life in the US amounts to circa $6.5 million.” ValuesMillionsEconomicAmountCostStandardsLifetimeSoldierPaymentDead Soldiers Author:Joseph Stiglitz
“Good economic policy requires not so much the bravado to implement drastic change as the strength and wisdom to make reasonable trade-offs over the many years it takes to transform a country's standard of living.” YearsCountryEconomicPolicyStandardsTradeReasonableStandards Of LivingEconomic PolicyDrasticTrade OffsBravadoStrength And WisdomDrastic Change Book:Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth Source: Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth
“We must together build an economic agenda for the India of our dreams that translates into improved standards of living, increased human well-being and assured social justice.” HumansWellsDreamTogetherSocialJusticeEconomicDevelopmentStandardsIndiaSocial JusticeWell BeingAgendasTranslateOur DreamsAssuredStandards Of Living Author:Narendra Modi
“If the search is for examples that contradict the predictions of standard economic models, a good rule of thumb is to start in France.” IfsEconomicExampleModelsStandardsFrancePredictionsThumbsEconomic Models Author:Robert H. Frank
“The larger the government, the more our livings standards are reduced. We are fortunate as a civilization that the progress of free enterprise generally outpaces the regress of government growth, for, if that were not the case, we would be poorer each year - not just in relative terms, but absolutely poorer too. The market is smart and the government is dumb, and to these attributes do we owe the whole of our economic well-being.” IfsYearsWellsWholeGovernmentWould BeGrowthTermCasesProgressEconomicCivilizationSmartStandardsDumbWell BeingFortunateEnterpriseAttributesRelativeFree Enterprise Author:Llewellyn Rockwell
“The free market exists to promote prosperity and human life, and that is what it has accomplished, splendidly, with breathtaking brilliance. In the industrialized world, the average person today enjoys a standard of living superior to that of kings and emperors of the past. The whole world's population is capable of enjoying the same marvelous results, if it adopts economic freedom.” IfsWorldHumansPersonsWholeTodayPastEnjoyResultsEconomicKingsCapableStandardsAveragePopulationProsperityWhole WorldSuperiorsHuman LifeAccomplishedMarvelousFree MarketBrillianceEmperorStandards Of LivingAverage PersonBreathtakingEconomic Freedom Author:George Reisman
“The truth is that capitalism has not only multiplied population figures, but at the same time, improved the people's standard of living in an unprecedented way. Neither economic thinking nor historical experience suggests that any other social system could be as beneficial to the masses as capitalism. The results speak for themselves. The market economy needs no apologists and propagandists. It can apply to itself the words of Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph in St. Paul's: Si monumentum requires, circumspice.” PeopleThinkingWayNeedsSpeakSocialResultsEconomyEconomicFiguresTruth IsMassStandardsCapitalismHistoricalPopulationBeneficialUnprecedentedStandards Of LivingEpitaphMarket EconomySocial SystemsPropagandistWrens Author:Ludwig von Mises
“Capitalism is going to deal itself out of existence, but before it does that, you're gonna pay $50 for a latte, because inflation is going impoverish all of us before people get pissed off enough to realize that all of the last hundred years of economic progress was actually a shell game to create billionaires, while the great masses of people saw their standard of living eroded and destroyed.” PeopleYearsDoeEnoughLastsGamesRealizingDealsPayExistenceSawsProgressEconomicMassStandardsHundredCapitalismDestroyedShellsInflationBillionaireStandards Of LivingPissed OffLattesEconomic Progress Author:Terence McKenna
“If greed were not the master of modern man, how could it be that the frenzy of economic activity does not abate as higher standards of living are attained, and that it is precisely the richest societies which pursue their economic advantage with the greatest ruthlessness?” IfsMenDoeEconomicModernMastersHigherActivityStandardsAdvantageGreedPursueStandards Of LivingFrenzyModern ManHigher StandardsRuthlessnessSmall Is Beautiful Author:E. F. Schumacher
“The oil is a gift bestowed by God on the Arab nation, to use after centuries of poverty, backwardness and servitude - in raising its living standards, developing its economic, social and cultural conditions, and building up its own power to meet the challenges and conspiracies besetting it.” UseNationsSocialChallengesPovertyEconomicConditionsCenturyBuildingStandardsOilDevelopingConspiracySaddamServitudeBuilding Up Author:Saddam Hussein
“I remember Secretary of State [George] Shultz one day saying that America is an economic model for the world. I replied to him that America represents 5 percent of the world's population and consumes 30 percent of the world's energy. What if everyone in the world lives like Americans? Where do we get the energy for this standard of living?” IfsWorldStatesAmericaRememberEnergyEconomicOne DayModelsStandardsPercentPopulationWhat IfSecretaryStandards Of LivingWorld LifeEconomic Models Author:Mikhail Gorbachev
“The politics of grievance is pervasive. It's spreading. And when you have an economy that has been ripped to shreds like this, and when you have more and more people thinking that there's no economic opportunity - that the game is so rigged that the standard recipes of hard work and education, stick-to-itiveness and so forth don't pay off.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensHardOpportunityGamesPayEconomyEconomicHard WorkStandardsSticksRecipesRippedGrievanceRigged Author:Rush Limbaugh