“Governments and politicians use the family as an indicator of the health and strength of social life. Politicians fear that any weakening of family life will in some way sap the vitality of national life.... The family is also important to businessmen. It is one of the major purchasing groups of our consumer society.” WayImportantUseGovernmentSocialGroupsPoliticianMajorsConsumersBusinessmanVitalityFamily LifeSocial LifeSapIndicatorsWeakeningPurchasingHealth And Strength Author:Adrian Wilson
“Debt, weve learned, is the match that lights the fire of every crisis. Every crisis has its own set of villains - pick your favorite: bankers, regulators, central bankers, politicians, overzealous consumers, credit rating agencies - but all require one similar ingredient to create a true crisis: too much leverage.” LightFireToo MuchPoliticianPicksCrisisCreditDebtConsumersAgencyIngredientsVillainBankersRatingYour FavoriteRegulatorsOverzealous Author:Andrew Ross Sorkin
“Tax reduction has an almost irresistible appeal to the politician, and it is no doubt also gratifying to the citizen. It means more dollars in his pocket, dollars that he can spend if inflation doesn't consume them first. But dollars in his pocket won't buy him clean streets or an adequate police force or good schools or clean air and water. Handing money back to the private sector in tax cuts and starving the public sector is a formula for producing richer and richer consumers in filthier and filthier communities. If we stick to that formula we shall end up in affluent misery.” IfsFirstsMeanEndsSchoolForceWaterCommunityDoubtCuttingAirStreetsCitizensPoliticianTaxesPoliceDollarsMiseryCleanSticksAppealsConsumersNo DoubtPocketsFormulasAdequateInflationStarvingIrresistibleReductionPrivate SectorTax CutsAffluentPolice ForcePublic SectorClean AirGood SchoolAir And Water Book:The Recovery of Confidence Source: The Recovery of Confidence
“Companies watch what consumers are doing like a hawk. Just as one letter to a politician can signal an insipient problem, for companies, a trend where people are beginning to switch away from one of their key products to a rival offering on the basis of either claims or real improvements on performance, that's significant.” PeopleRealProblemCompanyWatchesProductsKeysPoliticianLettersPerformancesBasesClaimsImprovementSignificantConsumersTrendsOfferingSignalsRivalsHawks Author:John Elkington
“To the extent that we consume, in our present circumstances, we are guilty. To the extent that we guilty consumers are conservationists, we are absurd. But what can we do? Must we go on writing letters to politicians and donating to conservation organizations until the majority of our fellow citizens agree with us? Or can we do something directly to solve our share of the problem? I am a conservationist. I believe wholeheartedly in putting pressure on the politicians and in maintaining the conservation organizations.” WritingBelieveProblemI BelieveShareGoes OnCitizensPoliticianCircumstancesLettersOrganizationPressureAgreeFellowsMajoritySolveAbsurdGuiltyConsumersConsumerismConservationMaintainingOverconsumptionWholeheartedly Author:Wendell Berry
“Don't underestimate the value people place on authenticity. Politicians listen to the focus groups and say the things they think people want to hear. But after 30 years of reading consumers, I know that they can smell phonies.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantYearsValuesReadingFocusGroupsPoliticianSmellAuthenticityConsumersUnderestimatePhonyFocus Groups Author:Rochelle B Lazarus
“When government 'creates jobs' by taking money from the private sector and 'investing' in favored projects, it is not truly productive activity. Rather, the government has preempted the economic process, forbidding it to serve consumers so that it can instead serve the objectives of politicians and bureaucrats.” GovernmentJobsProcessEconomicPoliticianActivityProjectsInvestingObjectivesConsumersProductivePrivate SectorBureaucrats Author:Sheldon Richman
“The public sector can only feed off the private sector; it necessarily lives parasitically upon the private economy. But this means that the productive resources of society - far from satisfying the wants of consumers - are now directed, by compulsion, away from these wants and needs. The consumers are deliberately thwarted, and the resources of the economy diverted from them to those activities desire by the parasitic bureaucracy and politicians.” WantNeedsMeanDesireEconomyPoliticianActivityResourcesConsumersProductiveSatisfyingBureaucracyCompulsionPrivate SectorWants And NeedsPublic Sector Book:Economic Controversies Source: Economic Controversies