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Economics Quotes

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Economics Quotes

“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.”

People Wells Looks May Two Today Certain Levels Economic Building Standards Economics Oppression Climbs Conformity Mediocrity Quarrels Mold Ceilings Standards Of Living

Author:Ronald Reagan

“The orthodox doctrines of economics which were dominant in the last quarter of the nineteenth century had a clear message. They supported laisser faire, free trade, the gold standard, and the universally advantageous effects of the pursuit of profit by competitive private enterprise.”

Source: Economic heresies: some old-fashioned questions in economic theory

“An idea is only an idea if it causes unease, debate and reflection. By that standard, Thomas Homer-Dixon's concept of an 'ingenuity gap' is truly a new idea. I can think of no other new concept that so fully condenses all of the challenges we face as a human civilization than the 'ingenuity gap'. Homer-Dixon has found a way to unite all of our concerns about economics, war, population growth, complexity, etc. under a single heading. He is one of an elite group of academics who can write for a mass audience.”

“Ask the first man you meet what he means by defending freedom, and he'll tell you privately he means defending the standard of living.”

Men Firsts Mean Asks Freedom Security Standards Economics Standards Of Living

Author:Martin Niemoller

“An invaluable little book.... What Makes a Terrorist uses standard tools of economics and statistical analysis to get at the truth about terrorism.... Krueger finds one familiar fact in all his numbers. Countries with fewer civil liberties tend to produce more terrorists.”

Littles Book Country Facts Use Numbers Liberty Produce Standards Economics Tools Terrorism Terrorist Familiar Analysis Fewer Civil Liberties Invaluable

Author:Daniel Finkelstein

“Good government cannot be found on the bargain-counter. We have seen samples of bargain-counter government in the past when low tax rates were secured by increasing the bonded debt for current expenses or refusing to keep our institutions up to the standard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I refuse, and the Republican Party refuses, to endorse that method of sham and shoddy economy.”

“American money was never more sound, or banking more free, than 200 years ago. Since then, it's been a long steady decline from the gold standard and competitive banking to our Fed-run system of inflated paper currency, deposit insurance, and perpetually shaky banks on the dole.”

Years Long Running Sound Money Paper Standards Years Ago Economics Gold Feds Steady Decline Currency Banking Deposits Gold Standard

Author:Llewellyn Rockwell

“Mothers work outside the home for many reasons; one of them is almost always because their families need their income to live up to their standards for their children.”

Needs Children Reason Home Mother Family Standards Economics Work Out Income

Book:All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure

Source: All Our Children: The American Family Under Pressure

“The standard of living of the common man is higher in those countries which have the greatest number of wealthy entrepreneurs.”

Men Country Common Numbers Liberty Higher Standards Economics Gold Entrepreneur Libertarian Wealthy Libertarianism Standards Of Living Common Man Great Libertarian

Book:Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses

Source: Planning for Freedom: Let the Market System Work : a Collection of Essays and Addresses

“The intellectual's hostility to the businessman presents no mystery, as the two have, by function, wholly different standards. While the businessman's motto is the customer is always right, the intellectual's task is to preserve his perceived standards against the weight of popular opinion.”

Two Different Philosophy Political Opinion Mystery Intellectual Standards Economics Tasks Weight Function Customers Preserves Businessman Motto Hostility Popular Opinion

Author:Bertrand de Jouvenel

“Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking backward upon the years of his own life, he realizes that many implements that were totally unknown in the days of his youth and many others which at that time could be enjoyed only by a small minority are now standard equipment of almost every household.”

Years Philosophy Political Used Realizing Environment Conditions Youth Standards Economics Average Granted Enjoyed Minorities Something New Household Looking Back Equipment

Book:Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays

Source: Economic freedom and interventionism: an anthology of articles and essays

“With virtually no knowledge of or interest in history, the masses simply take their unprecedented high living standards under capitalism for granted.”

Philosophy Political Interest Mass Standards Capitalism Economics Granted Unprecedented

Author:Ralph Raico

“Liberalism is, in fact, the ideology of the capitalist revolution that prodigiously raised the living standards of the mass of people; a doctrine gradually elaborated over several centuries, which offered a new concept of social order, encompassing freedom in the only form suited to the modern world. Step by step, in practice and theory, the various sectors of human activity were withdrawn from the jurisdiction of coercive authority and given over to the voluntary action of self-regulating society.”

“The growth of a nation's productive potential is the central factor in determining its growth in real wages and living standards.... high rates of investment and saving usually have a big payoff in promoting economic growth.”

Real Philosophy Bigs Political Nations Growth Economic Standards Economics Investment Rate Factors Saving Productive Wages Promoting Economic Growth Payoff

Author:Paul Samuelson

“The New Capitalism (arising from the global economic downturn)...those running our biggest commercial businesses will have to be more visible. They'll have to manifest a genuine understanding not only of the anxieties of their employees but of all taxpayers. Those chief executives who succeed will be those who imbue in their businesses very simple, commonsense standards of decency”

“In short, what the living wage is really about is not living standards, or even economics, but morality. Its advocates are basically opposed to the idea that wages are a market price-determined by supply and demand, the same as the price of apples or coal. And it is for that reason, rather than the practical details, that the broader political movement of which the demand for a living wage is the leading edge is ultimately doomed to failure: For the amorality of the market economy is part of its essence, and cannot be legislated away.”