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Standards Of Living Quotes

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Standards Of Living Quotes

“In the name of economy a thousand wasteful devices would be invented; and in the name of efficiency new forms of mechanical time-wasting would be devised: both processes gained speed through the nineteenth century and have come close to the limit of extravagant futility in our own time. But labor-saving devices could only achieve their end-that of freeing mankind for higher functions-if the standard of living remained stable. The dogma of increasing wants nullified every real economy and set the community in a collective squirrel-cage.”

IfsWantRealEndsWould BeFormNamesProcessCommunityEconomyAchieveMankindCenturyHigherThousandLimitsStandardsLaborFunctionSpeedSavingCollectivesDevicesWasting TimeStableDogmaEfficiencyConsumerismCagesNineteenth CenturyFutilityOverconsumptionExtravagantStandards Of LivingSquirrels
Author:Lewis Mumford
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“Too much of the world's happiness depends on taking from one to satisfy another. To increase my standard of living, someone in another part of the world must lower his. The worldwide crisis of hunger that we face today is a result of that method of pursuing happiness. Industrialized nations acquire appetites for more and more luxuries and higher and higher standards of living, and increasing numbers of people are made poor and hungry. It doesn't have to be that way.”

PeopleWorldWayMadeTodayFacesNationsPoorResultsNumbersToo MuchDependsHigherStandardsIncreaseCrisisMethodHungerHungryLuxuryAcquireAppetiteConsumerismOverconsumptionStandards Of LivingHigher StandardsPursuing Happiness
Book:A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society
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“The religion and the environmentalism of the highly industrialized countries are at bottom a sham, because they make it their business to fight against something that they do not really wish to destroy. We all live by robbing nature, but our standard of living demands that the robbery shall continue. We must achieve the character and acquire the skills to live much poorer than we do.”

CountryCharacterFightingWishAchieveSkillsDemandStandardsBottomAcquireLive ByConsumerismEnvironmentalismOverconsumptionStandards Of LivingRobberyRobbing
Book:What Are People For?: Essays
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“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
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“Poor people in America today (people who are officially in poverty) have a higher standard of living - in terms of medical standards, in terms of going to college, in terms of the way people live - than middle class people did thirty years ago.”

PeopleWayYearsTodayAmericaTermPoorClassPovertyMiddleCollegeHigherStandardsYears AgoMedicalThirtyMiddle ClassPoor PeopleThirty YearsStandards Of LivingAmerica TodayHigher StandardsGoing To College
Author:Michael Medved
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“Nobody's busting into YOUR apartment at three in the morning, are they? Well, then don't worry about what they're doing in South Korea and places like that. It's like the standard of living. Are you content to achieve your higher standard of living at the expense of people all over the world who've got a lower standard of living? Most Americans would say yes. Now we ask the question, are you content to enjoy your political freedom at the expense of people who are less free? I think they would also say yes.”

PeopleThinkingWorldWellsPoliticalThreeAsksEnjoyMorningWorryAchieveHigherStandardsSouthExpensesApartmentKoreaStandards Of LivingPolitical FreedomHigher StandardsSouth KoreaBusting
Author:William S. Burroughs
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“I was brought up by a Victorian Grandmother. We were taught to work jolly hard. We were taught to prove yourself; we were taught self reliance; we were taught to live within our income. You were taught that cleanliness is next to Godliness. You were taught self respect. You were taught always to give a hand to your neighbour. You were taught tremendous pride in your country. All of these things are Victorian values. They are also perennial values. You don't hear so much about these things these days, but they were good values and they led to tremendous improvements in the standard of living.”

GivingSelfCountryHardHandsValuesNextTaughtPrideProveStandardsImprovementIncomeThese DaysSelf RespectGrandmotherSelf RelianceRelianceNeighbourGodlinessCleanlinessStandards Of LivingVictorianJollyProving YourselfGood Values
Author:Margaret Thatcher
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“Wars are generally fought for material things; they're not fought over ideals. After we get into them, we are told we are fighting for ideals. We are fighting for oil and tin and rubber and markets, and as long as we insist on a standard of life that is so high above all the rest of the world, we're going to have to pay for our standard of living with a lot of blood. I think we ought to re-examine the fact that Jesus was a pauper, and we should be committing ourselves to a very humble, simple way of life.”

ThinkingWorldWayShouldLongWarFactsFightingJesusSimplePayBloodMaterialsOughtStandardsIdealsHumbleOilRubberStandards Of LivingTinMaterial ThingsSimple Ways
Author:Clarence Jordan
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“You know that the population is of this planet is now ten times greater than it was in the ages preceding capitalism.; you know that all men today enjoy a higher standard of living than your ancestors did before the age of capitalism. But how do you know that you are the one out of ten who would have lived in the absence of capitalism? The mere fact that you are living today is proof that capitalism has succeeded, whether or not you consider your own life very valuable.”

KnowsMenFactsAgeTodayEnjoyGreaterPlanetsHigherTenStandardsCapitalismMerePopulationValuableProofAbsenceDo You KnowAncestorStandards Of LivingHigher Standards
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“It is my personal conviction that almost any one of the newborn states of the world would far rather embrace Communism or any other form of dictatorship than acknowledge the political domination of another government, even though that brought to each citizen a far higher standard of living.”

WorldStatesGovernmentFormPoliticalHigherCitizensStandardsEmbraceConvictionCommunismAcknowledgeDictatorshipDominationStandards Of LivingNewbornHigher Standards
Author:Dwight D. Eisenhower
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“Competitiveness is defined as the ability of companies to compete while maintaining or improving the average standard of living. If you are cutting wages to become more competitive, that's not really more competitive. It's raising the skill and the efficiency of those workers so that they can support and sustain that higher wage.”

IfsAbilityCompanySupportCuttingHigherSkillsStandardsWorkersAverageDefinedEfficiencyImprovingWagesMaintainingStandards Of LivingCompetitiveness
Author:Michael Porter
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“America's skyscrapers were not built by public funds nor for a public purpose: they were built by the energy, initiative and wealth of private individuals for personal profit. And, instead of impoverishing the people, these skyscrapers, as they rose higher and higher, kept raising the people's standard of living - including the inhabitants of the slums.”

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Author:Ayn Rand
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“Conditions have changed, but we are still operating financially by the rules established during the Industrial Revolution-rules based on creating more material possessions. But our high standard of living has not led to a high quality of life-for us or for the planet.”

StillsQualityConditionsChangedPlanetsMaterialsRevolutionCreatingStandardsPossessionQuality Of LifeStandards Of LivingHigh QualityHigh StandardsIndustrial RevolutionMaterial Possessions
Author:Joseph R. Dominguez
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“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
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“The capitalist has this over the politician and the clergyman; he has in practice done more to raise the standard of living of the poor than all the government and church programs in history....Monsanto and the Archer Daniels Midland Company have fed more hungry people than all the...soup kitchens combined.”

PeopleDoneGovernmentChurchPoorCompanyPracticePoliticianStandardsProgramRaisesHungryKitchenFedsCapitalistSoupStandards Of LivingClergymenArcherMonsantoSoup Kitchens
Author:Dinesh D'Souza
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“Government intervention in the economy - through taxes, regulation and, most importantly, currency inflation - causes distortions and misallocations of capital that must eventually be unwound. The distortions degrade the general standard of living, and the economy goes into a recession (call that an incomplete cleansing). Or it goes into a depression - wherein the entire sickly structure comes unglued.”

GovernmentCausesEconomyTaxesStandardsStructureRegulationCurrencyInflationInterventionIncompleteDistortionRecessionsDegradeStandards Of LivingCleansingGovernment Intervention
Author:Doug Casey
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“If the present American laws concerning the taxation of the profits of corporations, the incomes of individuals, and inheritances had been introduced about 60 years ago, all those new products whose consumption has raised the standard of living of the 'common man' would either not be produced at all or only in small quantities for the benefit of a minority. The Ford enterprises would not exist if Henry Ford's profits had been taxed away as soon as they came into being.”

IfsMenYearsLawIndividualCommonProductsBenefitsStandardsYears AgoRaisedProfitIncomeCorporationsEnterpriseMinoritiesQuantityConsumptionTaxationInheritanceStandards Of LivingCommon ManNew ProductsAmerican Law
Author:Ludwig von Mises
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“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
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“My single biggest financial concern is the loss of the dollar as the reserve currency. I can't imagine anything more disastrous to our country. . .you're already seeing things in the markets that are suggesting that confidence in the dollar is waning. . .I think you could see a 25% reduction in the standard of living in this country if the U.S. dollar was no longer the world's reserve currency. That's how valuable it is.”

IfsThinkingWorldI CanCountryLossImagineSeeingStandardsConcernDollarsFinancialValuableOur CountryCurrencyReservesReductionSuggestingStandards Of Living
Author:Sam Zell
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“Capitalism has improved the standard of living of the wage earners to an unprecedented extent. The average American family enjoys today amenities of which, only a hundred years ago, not even the richest nabobs dreamed.”

YearsTodayEnjoyStandardsHundredCapitalismYears AgoAverageUnprecedentedStandards Of LivingAmerican FamilyAmenitiesEnjoy Today
Book:Planning for freedom, and sixteen other essays and addresses
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“The modern welfare state, highly touted as soaking the rich to subsidize the poor, does no such thing. In fact, soaking the rich would have disastrous effects, not just for the rich but for the poor and middle classes themselves. For it is the rich who provide a proportionately greater amount of saving, investment capital, entrepreneurial foresight, and financing of technological innovation that has brought the Unites States to by far the highest standard of living - for the mass of the people - of any country in history.”

PeopleDoeCountryStatesFactsPoorClassRichGreaterModernMiddleEffectsAmountHighestMassStandardsInnovationInvestmentSavingWelfareMiddle ClassTechnologicalEntrepreneurialForesightStandards Of LivingWelfare StateFinancingSoaking
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“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
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“Whether happiness or unhappiness, freedom or slavery, in short whether good or evil results from an improved environment depends largely upon how the change has been brought about, upon the methods by which the physical results have been reached, and in what spirit and for what purpose the fruits of that change are used. Because a higher standard of living, a greater productiveness and a command over nature are not good in and of themselves does not mean that we cannot make good of them, that they cannot be a source of inner strength.”

MeanDoeHas BeensUsedSpiritPurposeEvilResultsEnvironmentGreaterSourceDependsHigherStandardsMethodSlaveryFruitCommandInner StrengthUnhappinessStandards Of LivingHigher Standards
Author:David Lilienthal
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“We are living in the richest country in the history of the world, yet we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country and millions of people are struggling to put food on the table. It is my absolute conviction that everyone in this country deserves a minimum standard of living and we've got to go forward in the fight to make that happen.”

PeopleWorldCountryHappensFightingPovertyMillionsStruggleChildhoodMajorsHighestStandardsDeserveAbsolutesTablesRateConvictionMinimumWorld HistoryStandards Of Living
Author:Bernie Sanders
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“Fossil fuel is very seductive stuff. [John Maynard] Keynes once said that, as far as he could tell, the average standard of living from the beginning of human history to the middle of the eighteenth century had perhaps doubled. Not much had changed, and then we found coal and gas and oil and everything changed. We're reaping the result of that, both ecologically and socially.”

HumansSaidFoundStuffResultsMiddleCenturyChangedStandardsAverageOilFuelGasCoalFossilsHuman HistoryFossil FuelSeductiveStandards Of LivingKeynes
Author:Bill McKibben
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