“If you want to get at African American poverty, the income gap, wealth gap, achievement gap, that the most important thing is to make sure that the society as a whole does right by people who are poor, are working class, are aspiring to a better life for their kids.” PeopleIfsWantDoeImportantWholeKidsWealthPoorClassPovertyAchievementImportant ThingsIncomeAfrican AmericanGapsWorking ClassBetter LifeAchievement GapAmerican Poverty Author:Barack Obama
“This is where I think policies do need to be somewhat race-specific, is making sure that institutions are not discriminatory. So you've got something like the FHA [Federal Housing Administration], which was on its face a universal program that involved a huge mechanism for wealth accumulation and people entering into the middle class.” PeopleThinkingNeedsFacesWealthRaceClassMiddlePolicyHugeInvolvedProgramUniversalInstitutionsAdministrationMiddle ClassMechanismEnteringHousingAccumulation Author:Barack Obama
“To me the question right now is: How do I close that first three-quarters of the achievement gap, education gap, wealth gap? What gives me the best chance to do that? And I'm pretty darn sure that if America is a just society and treating people well right now, irrespective of past wrongs, that I'm going to close a big chunk of that gap. I've seen it.” PeopleIfsGivingFirstsWellsBigsAmericaPastThreeWealthChanceRight NowAchievementGive MeGapsQuartersChunksAchievement GapPast Wrongs Author:Barack Obama
“The U.S. and, to a certain extent, countries in Europe as well, have experienced growing inequality within their population for decades - a small group of people own the lion's share of the wealth. Populists take advantage of this, and their policies are extremely hard to predict. And this has serious consequences. Companies shy away from risk, postponing their investment decisions in times of uncertainty, the stock markets get nervous and unemployment threatens to increase.” PeopleWellsCountryHardCertainWealthDecisionCompanyGrowingRiskGroupsSharePolicySeriousConsequenceEuropeAdvantageIncreaseInvestmentPopulationDecadesNervousInequalityUncertaintyShyLionsUnemploymentSmall GroupsPopulistPostponing Author:Nicholas Bloom
“If you have questions about how people earn their wealth, for crying out loud, the Clintons have a way of doing it that virtually nobody else could parlay.” PeopleIfsWayWealthCryClintonLoud Author:Rush Limbaugh
“It's very difficult, historically, to define what an elite is. But whatever it is, people are very angry at that idea, I think, not so much because of wealth or privilege as much as attitude that the populous masses, if I could use that overused term, feel that a particular government or cultural group is not subject to the ramifications of their own ideology.” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsIdeasUseGovernmentDifficultTermWealthAttitudeGroupsSubjectsParticularMassAngryPrivilegeIdeologyIf I CouldElitesRamificationsOverused Author:Victor Davis Hanson
“I think that the spirit of America is still very much one of where people want to work hard and the majority of people want to work hard. They want to be entrepreneurs. But when you have that all taken away with government regulation or with government overbearance of taxation, you start to wonder whether if it's even worthwhile because who are you really working for? Are you working for yourself, are you working for the government? In the end, this wealth distribution scheme that's at the heart of the current political administration is an inherently wrong one.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantHeartStillsEndsHardGovernmentAmericaPoliticalSpiritWealthWonderTakenHard WorkMajorityEntrepreneurCurrentsAdministrationWorthwhileRegulationSchemesDistributionTaxationGovernment Regulation Author:Robin Leach
“It's the reason why so many people left Britain like I did in the mid 60s because Britain was exactly the same then as America is today, getting ready to redistribute social wealth and it didn't work. You've seen that in places like Greece, Portugal, Iceland, Ireland where the entire country's business has collapsed, gone bankrupt. That's where America is heading.” PeopleCountryReasonTodayAmericaLeftSocialWealthGoneReadyReason WhyBritainIrelandGreeceHeadingsPortugalIceland Author:Robin Leach
“There are certain areas where foreign investors can help the local people to generate wealth, and improve their quality of life. Some companies, for example, Del Monte, which produces pineapples in Kenya, pay a huge amount of taxes, I am sure, to the Kenyan government, and they do create jobs for thousands of locals.” PeopleHelpingGovernmentJobsCertainWealthPayQualityCompanyExampleProduceHugeAmountTaxesAreasLocalsInvestorsQuality Of LifeKenyaPineapples Author:Wangari Maathai
“If you continue to transfer the wealth of the population of the planet to a very small amount of people, it becomes untenable at some point, a democracy, because people eventually will realize what's going on. You can only bulls - t people through kinds of media outlets for so long, and eventually you have to physically control them.” PeopleIfsKindLongRealizingWealthDemocracyMediaPlanetsAmountPopulationOutletsBullsTransfersSmall Amounts Author:Irvine Welsh
“I think that in the future, as more and more money and wealth goes to the 1 per cent, it's going to polarize into the people who are for and anti-freedom. It's not that they'll have a left and a right wing thing, it's going to be a freedom and anti-freedom polarization, I think.” PeopleThinkingLeftWealthWingsCentsMore MoneyRight WingPolarization Author:Irvine Welsh
“Trump's claims that he's making taxes more democratic for the people, but it actually is a vast sucking of income and wealth upward.” PeopleWealthTrumpTaxesClaimsDemocraticIncome Author:Michael Hudson
“I hope that that the people in the Occupy movement are politically aware enough to know that their being excluded from the obscene amassing of wealth of US corporations is part of the same system of the exclusion and war that is being waged by these corporations in places like India, Africa and the Middle East.” PeopleKnowsWarEnoughWealthMiddleMovementIndiaEastCorporationsMiddle EastExclusionExcludedObsceneOccupy Movement Author:Arundhati Roy
“We often confuse or loosely use the ideas of crony capitalism or neoliberalism to actually avoid using the word "capitalism", but once you've actually seen, let's say, what's happening in India and the United States - that this model of US economics packaged in a carton that says "democracy" is being forced on countries all over the world, militarily if necessary, has in the United States itself resulted in 400 of the richest people owning wealth equivalent [to that] of half of the population.” PeopleIfsWorldIdeasCountryStatesUseWealthUnitedHalfUnited StatesDemocracyModelsHappeningsCapitalismEconomicsIndiaPopulationNeoliberalismCroniesCrony Capitalism Author:Arundhati Roy
“In India, 100 of the richest people own assets worth 25% of the gross domestic product. There's something terribly wrong. No individual and no corporation should be allowed to amass that kind of unlimited wealth, including bestselling writers like myself, who are showered with royalties.” PeopleShouldKindIndividualWealthProductsIndiaIncludingCorporationsAssetsUnlimitedGrossRoyaltyGross Domestic Product Author:Arundhati Roy
“The whole privatisation of health and education, of natural resources and essential infrastructure - all of this is so twisted and so antithetical to anything that would place the interests of human beings or the environment at the center of what ought to be a government concern - should stop. The amassing of unfettered wealth of individuals and corporations should stop. The inheritance of rich people's wealth by their children should stop. The expropriators should have their wealth expropriated and redistributed.” PeopleShouldHumansChildrenWholeGovernmentIndividualInterestNaturalWealthHuman BeingsRichEnvironmentOughtEssentialsResourcesConcernShould HaveCorporationsInfrastructureInheritanceTwistedRich PeopleNatural ResourcesHealth And Education Author:Arundhati Roy
“That is the story of our history - whether it's the pursuit of prosperity for our people or the struggle for equality for all of our citizens, our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power, but because of who we are. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” PeopleWorldStoriesRememberValuesNationsCan DoWealthJusticeLibertyStruggleSacrificeCitizensCommitmentProsperityPursuitWho We AreIndivisibleLiberty And JusticeEquality For AllJustice For AllOne Nation Under GodLiberty And Justice For All Author:Barack Obama
“The very idea that there should be a certain class of people who give orders by virtue of their ownership of wealth and another huge class who take on orders and follow them because of their lack of access to wealth and power, that's unacceptable. So, sure it should be abolished.” PeopleGivingShouldIdeasCertainOrderWealthClassVirtueHugeAccessOwnership Author:Noam Chomsky
“I would like to say something just about the Mexican people. It is a population that has a wealth, such great wealth, a people that surprises.” PeopleWealthSurprisePopulationMexican Author:Pope Francis
“The Mexican people, you cannot explain this wealth, this history, this joy, the capacity to celebrate amid these tragedies that you have asked about. I can say another thing, that this unity, that this people has managed not to fail, not to end with so many wars, things, things that are happening now.” PeopleI CanWarEndsJoyWealthFailingHappeningsCapacityTragedyUnityCelebrateMexican Author:Pope Francis
“There is no doubt that the Fed's large-scale asset purchases have caused major increases in a number of asset prices in the economy. This is especially true of mortgage backed securities and corporate bonds, and quite possibly of equities as well. For those people and institutions holding those things, the run up in prices has been a wealth bonanza.” PeopleWellsHas BeensRunningWealthNumbersEconomyDoubtSecurityMajorsIncreaseInstitutionsScalesCorporateNo DoubtFedsAssetsEquityMortgageLarge ScaleCorporate Bond Author:Gerald Epstein
“The collective income of all these people - the bottom half - is less than three percent of global household income, and so there is a grotesque maldistribution of income and wealth.” PeopleThreeWealthHalfPercentBottomIncomeCollectivesHouseholdGrotesque Author:Thomas Pogge
“The classics of Marxism talked of communism as a society to which a modern society should aspire, a society truly fair, where the relations of monetary exchange were not the priority but one wher the people's needs could be satisfied, and where people would not be worth more according to how much monetary wealth they acquired. Instead their value would be based on their contribution to society as a whole. It would be a society without class that would accept people based on their capabilities and their potential to contribute to that society.” PeopleNeedsShouldWholeWould BeValuesWealthAcceptingClassModernFairsRelationPrioritiesSatisfiedCommunismContributionCapabilityAspireMarxismMonetaryModern SocietyContribution To Society Author:Alejandro Castro Espin
“People who lack material wealth, who are poor, won't be very happy. They will be obsessed with meeting their bills at pay day. And people who have an abundance of material goods are often not happy.” PeopleWealthPoorPayMaterialsBillsMeetingsObsessedAbundanceGoodsVery HappyNot HappyMaterial Wealth Author:Philip Kotler
“What democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent - almost - own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you see every other major country providing health care to all people as a right, except the United States.” PeopleWorldLooksCountryStatesCareTodayWealthUnitedUnited StatesEconomyMajorsPercentDemocraticBottomIncomeSocialismAround The WorldHealth CareProvidingImmoralRiggedDemocratic Socialism Author:Bernie Sanders
“We live in a country where a small number of people have incredible wealth and power. America has more income and wealth inequality than any other major country.” PeopleCountryAmericaWealthNumbersMajorsIncrediblesIncomeInequalitySmall NumbersWealth Inequality Author:Bernie Sanders
“Black people we've been taught that we will never be free, until some will have to die, some will have to give up wealth, their loved ones, and their health, So, what I'm doin' is for myself and for justice for black people, runnin' will kill it all, it'll make me a coward.” PeopleGivingDiesBlackWealthJusticeTaughtGiving UpCowardBlack PeopleLoved Ones Author:Muhammad Ali
“People must get active; go outside; get moving. This is a crucial time. You know, massive wealth and capital haven't budged one bit, so far. We have to give it a huge push if we want to see something different in our society. We need to create mechanisms and forms of organization which reflect the needs and wants of society as a whole, not just a privileged-oligarchic class of individuals.” PeopleGivingDifferentMovingIndividualWealth Author:David Harvey
“So many people have so many problems. When you think that health is wealth, you're so grateful just to be normal, more or less. Aren't you?” PeopleThinkingProblemWealthGratefulSo Grateful Author:Andy Warhol
“I'd much rather be part of a society which greatly honors and respects people who are altruists and who are effective in their altruism, than one that either admires people because they're, you know, celebrity movie stars or because they're super wealthy just no matter what they do with their wealth because I think we ought to try to encourage more people to act in that way.” PeopleThinkingTryingWealthHonorAdmireWealthyAltruismMovie StarRespect People Author:Peter Singer
“I think if you do have democracy it would transform the world because if the millions of people who die live on a dollar a day, had the vote, they would redistribute the wealth of the world, and the people at the top are not prepared to see that happen.” PeopleThinkingWorldWealthDemocracyVote Author:Tony Benn
“There are tax increases throughout this Obamacare thing. It is just an expansion of government for the purposes of redistribution of wealth, and it's being said it's a health care bill to improve the lives of the American people and provide more access to the health care system for the American people who were denied it. It's all a sham. It's all a giant hoax just like this climate change thing is.” PeopleCarePurposeWealthTaxesClimate ChangeHealth Care Author:Rush Limbaugh
“The left hates capitalism, not because of freedom and liberty - although they do. But the primary they hate capitalism is that it is the most efficient engine to create wealth for the greatest number of people in a society that has ever been devised. Nobody's ever claimed it's perfect. Nobody's ever said it's flawless. But it's better than anything else out there, particularly anything left has to offer.” PeopleHateWealthPerfectLibertyCapitalism Author:Rush Limbaugh
“We've so, so fallen for the premise that only government can do certain things. But then when we get around to privatizing, people always applaud it. Well, I mean, the left never does. Privatize this; privatize that. Prisons, you name it. When you are endeavoring to create wealth by virtue of creating profit, you're gonna have a much more efficient operation a bunch of bureaucrats - who have no idea what they're doing, by the way.” PeopleMeanWealthVirtuePrisonFallen Author:Rush Limbaugh
“The people who have wealth and the people who earn money are going to be a little reluctant to part with it, particularly if they earned it fair and square. So, what has to happen is that there has to be a drumming in of a critique that causes shame, a sense of look, my country and even I am in possession of stolen goods you might say and therefore, the government becomes the instrument to get some of those back.” PeopleCountryWealthShamePossessionCritique Author:Dinesh D'Souza
“I know people who are both extremely wealthy, people who are middle class and people with little material wealth. Whatever their circumstance may be, they are every bit as renounced as monks because they have that spirit. The spirit of charity on a spiritual platform. The Bhagavad Gita explains that real wisdom is when we see every living being with equal vision. When we love God, we naturally love our neighbor as our self, as the Bible also tells us.” PeopleRealSpiritualSpiritWealthVisionCircumstancesEqualCharityNeighborGod LoveMiddle ClassWealthyMonk Author:Radhanath Swami
“Eighty-three percent of our students are Pell Grant-eligible, which means, by and large, that their families have a dysfunctional relationship with wealth and with work. So if you have never been in an environment where you have come to understand the expectations of a career, because all you have ever seen is people be underemployed or unemployed, then how are you going to learn that? Our students are getting two forms of education. They're getting a rigorous liberal arts training, and they're also getting real world work experience.” PeopleWorldMeanArtRealWealthEnvironmentStudentsTrainingExpectationsReal WorldLiberal Arts Author:Michael Sorrell
“Washington flourished but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, but for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. An education system flushed with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge. We've defended other nation's borders while refusing to defend our own.” PeopleChildrenDifferentRealitySchoolBeautifulWealthShareStudentsPoliticianNeighborhoodEducation SystemYoung And Beautiful Author:Donald Trump
“The reason why nothing sticks to Trump - or very little sticks to Trump - is that Trump created his brand idea that has to do with being the guy who gets away from it. It's this ultimate power through wealth and this dream that represents in an age of tremendous economic precariousness and constrained options for so many people - that watching Trump be able to do whatever he wants to whoever he wants is this obvious vicarious kind of thrill for a certain demographic.” PeopleKindReasonDreamAgeGuyWealthEconomicUltimateObviousGet Away Author:Naomi Klein
“I think we'll start defining wealth and success differently and develop new approaches to consumption. Things that have always signified wealth and security - home ownership, new cars, luxury goods - have become a burden for many people and will be replaced by more experiential consumption like travel and recreation, self-improvement, and so on. By divesting themselves of certain big-ticket possessions that have been keeping them tied down, people will gain a new freedom to live more meaningful lives. Changes in consumption and lifestyle are key to Great Resets.” PeopleThinkingHomeWealthSecurityCarPossessionBurdenMeaningfulLifestyleLife ChangingOwnershipReplacedMeaningful LifeNew Car Author:Richard Florida
“When you think of everything in terms of just money, then almost nothing is enough. I mean, how much money is enough? Because it's hard to translate money into goods. And I think people, once, I think there's a lot things can believe, and once they start thinking about wealth in terms of money, they lose the idea of enough-ness.” PeopleThinkingBelieveMeanEnoughTermWealthTranslate Author:Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky
“I love creating things, and as an entrepreneur, I've taken on quite a lot of major corporations and done well. Capitalism is the only system that works, but it has its flaws; for one, it brings great wealth to only a few people. That wealth obviously brings extreme responsibility.” PeopleDoneWealthResponsibilityTakenCapitalismEntrepreneurFlaws Author:Richard Branson
“I figured, I am a product of the opportunity the country provided, and I understand the challenges of the middle class and the lower class, and I clearly understand the dynamics at the highest levels of wealth within the country and across this global world. It became clear to me that I could represent the people of Texas - I could represent those people, that segment of society that I came from.” PeopleWorldCountryOpportunityChallengesWealthMiddle Class Author:Ricardo Sanchez
“The powershift began already several years ago, under the Bush administration, when the dollar became very volatile and started declining. That is when China shifted from having almost 100 percent of its reserves in dollars to 75 percent. Some countries went completely out of the dollar. The dollar, for all intents and purposes, lost its special reserve status and people starting talking about a portfolio, or basket, approach as a store of wealth instead of the dollar.” PeopleCountryPurposeWealthSpecial Author:Joseph Stiglitz
“We're a culture that's obsessed with people who make and who squander ridiculous amounts of wealth, which seemed an obsession well worth interrogating in a novel. That probably accounts for what some have called the book's "sweeping" feel, but I don't know that I set out to be cinematic. I wouldn't know how to do that in a novel, specifically.” PeopleCultureWealthNovelRidiculousObsessionObsessed Author:Matthew Specktor
“The 1970s were the height of social mobility. College was accessible. My grandfather was a poor immigrant who went to a public school in Ohio, and my father went to Harvard. That wasn't unusual. There was a feeling that anything was possible and you didn't have to be born into money to have a successful life. Now, people don't believe in the idea that anything is possible. We have more inequality than we've had ever before and a greater concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.” PeopleBelieveFeelingsSchoolFatherWealthPoorSuccessfulCollegeInequalityConcentrationUnusualGrandfatherPublic SchoolMy GrandfatherAnything Is PossibleSuccessful Life Author:Lauren Greenfield
“The economist Juliet Schor talks about how our reference group has changed over the last twenty-five years. As we spend less time with our neighbors, we're spending more time with people we know from TV and social media, and this becomes our new reference group. The media is full of images of people with wealth, and we're comparing ourselves to them and aspiring to what they have. Instead of keeping up with the Joneses family, we're trying to keep up with the Kardashians, even though it's completely unrealistic.” PeopleTryingWealthChangedSocial MediaNeighborCompareEconomistJuliet Author:Lauren Greenfield
“These days, the media is defining what cultural capital is, and it's easily learned. If you have money, anything can be bought. We see this in China and Russia with what I call the "Bling Dynasty and New Oligarchy" in Generation Wealth. As people got rich and everybody started buying Louis Vuitton bags, it became clear that to distinguish yourself you had to have more than an expensive bag. People began to want the things that money is not supposed to be able to buy - history, tradition, education, and culture.” PeopleCultureWealthRichTraditionLouis Vuitton Author:Lauren Greenfield
“We aren't protecting the people who most need it when those who can contribute to the country's success emigrate. Contrary to what some claim, I am not getting rid of the wealth tax to help the rich.” PeopleHelpingWealthRichTaxes Author:Emmanuel Macron
“Most people who have wealth came from nothing or their parents came from nothing. And this idea that anyone can grow wealth is central to what we do.” PeopleParentWealth Author:Noah Kerner