Quotes about economics
page 33

“We should actively campaign for a public understanding of the benefits of the [UK] union, economic and strategic, for the people and its component nations,”

Boris Johnson (1964) British politician, historian and journalist

Source: Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt pledge to safeguard union https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-48817848 BBC News (30 June 2019)

People, Understanding

“We've seen a parade of multinational corporations, financial institutions, Hollywood actors, and even American sports superstars joining a shameless stampede to see who can pander most effectively to a regime that is the reigning world champion of predatory economic behavior, human rights abuses, and even genocide.”

Tom Tiffany (1957) American businessman and politician

Exclusive—Rep. Tom Tiffany: Time for U.S. to Recognize Reality by Recognizing Taiwan https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2021/12/02/exclusive-rep-tom-tiffany-time-for-u-s-to-recognize-reality-by-recognizing-taiwan/ (2 December 2021)

World, Behavior, Sport

“Allow our common home to rest from our throw-away culture, our addiction to consumption, to unlimited economic growth, and to the dirty and deadly fossil fuels. Let us open ourselves to the new normal of interconnectedness and interrelatedness. We are in this together.”

Jose Romeo Lazo (1949) Filipino Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Philippine Church flags off Season of Creation https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-09/philippines-church-society-celebrate-season-creation.html (3 September 2020)

Home

“The evils and dangers of which I speak are of slow growth, and their cure can only be gradual. Unless Great Britain is able by a united and well-instructed effort to grapple with her economic problems, and unless she is worthy to be the heart of her world-wide establishment, you here in this hall today will live long enough to lose not only your inheritance, but your livelihood. The continuance of our present confusion and disintegration will reduce us within a generation, and perhaps sooner, to the degree of States like Holland and Portugal, which nursed valiant races and held great possessions, but were stripped of them in the crush and competition of the world. That would be a melancholy end to all the old glories and recent triumphs.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Source: Rectorial address ("The present decline of Parliamentary government in Great Britain") to Edinburgh University (5 March 1931), quoted in The Times (6 March 1931), p. 19

World, Problem, Effort, Evil

“Spontaneous rallies were used as a pretext for provoking civil unrest. Religious radicals, criminals, outright thugs, looters and petty hooligans filled the streets as if on cue. Socio-economic and socio-political demands were put on the back burner, they were forgotten. Next followed the hot phase, and armed fighters, who were biding their time, took over. The main goal of these events became clear – to undermine the constitutional system, destroy governance institutions and seize power. It is obvious now that these armed activities were coordinated from a single centre, and the carefully planned operation entered its decisive phase.”

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (1953) Kazakh politician

Source: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (2022) cited in: " Don’t Ignore All Sides of Russian Messaging https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column_article/dont-ignore-all-sides-of-russian-messaging" in The Cipher Brief, 18 January 2022.

Decision, Time

“The belief that we can maintain current levels of consumption, especially of animal products, capitalist expansion, imperial wars, a reliance on fossil fuels and abject subservience to unfettered corporate power, which has solidified the worst income inequality in human history, is not a form of hope but suicidal self-delusion. We are not headed under the policies of the Biden administration and the global ruling elite for the broad sunlit uplands of a new and glorious future, but economic misery, vast climate migrations, waves of new and more virulent pandemics, of which COVID-19 is a mild precursor, along with irreversible ecological systems collapse and frightening forms of societal breakdown, authoritarianism and neofascism.”

Chris Hedges (1956) American journalist

Source: The Great Delusion https://scheerpost.com/2020/12/21/chris-hedges-the-great-delusion/. Scheerpost, December 21, 2020

War, Hope, History, Suicide

“More generally, the individual who gets added income as a result of a general inflationary movement atributes it not to larger economic causes but to his own virtue and diligence.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter XXII, Section 4, p. 263 (1985)

“Nothing so effectively economizes effort and intelligence, as distinct from anxiety, as the knowledge that nothing can be done.”

John Kenneth Galbraith book The New Industrial State

Source: The New Industrial State (1967), Chapter VIII, Section 1, p. 91 (1985)

Intelligence, Knowledge, Effort

“"You must tell them that there must be a new union or there will be chaos," he [Shevardnadze] implored me. That evening, when I hosted republic leaders for dinner — a mixed group of presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers — I saw around the table and in the conversation a microcosm of the post-coup Soviet Union’s potential — and its problems. Whatever euphoria that they felt with their post-putsch independence declarations had given way to a marked degree of realism. "Independence sounds nice, but we have to live, and we have to be practical," observed the Prime Minister of Moldova, Valeriu Muravsky. That was the persistent theme that I heard from every one of the republic leaders, with the sole exception of the Georgian Prime Minister, Vissarion Gugushvili, though even he spoke of the need for economic cooperation once Georgian independence was recognized internationally.”

James Baker (1930) Former U.S. Secretary of State

The Politics of Diplomacy: Revolution, War and Peace 1989-1992 (1995) by James Addison Baker, p. 531
1990s

Way, Problem

“In bringing forward this plan, the United States Government apparently counted on the cooperation of the Governments of the United Kingdom and France to confront the European countries in need of relief with the necessity of renouncing their inalienable right to dispose of their economic resources and to plan their national economy in their own way.”

Andrei Vyshinsky (1883–1954) Soviet politician

I covered it here but the above source is the official home of the speech. https://quotesexplained.com/necessity-of-renouncing-their-inalienable-right-andrei-vyshinsky/
Source: https://sites.temple.edu/immerman/vyshinsky-speech-to-u-n-general-assembly-2/

Way, Country

“It may possibly be urged the shape of a culture—its mores, evaluations, family organizations, eating habits, living patterns, pedagogical methods, institutions, forms of government, and so forth—arise from the economic necessities of its technology.”

Robert A. Heinlein book Waldo

Waldo (p. 134)
Short fiction, The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein (1999)

Family

“The EU has evolved from a constructive economic platform, as it was created, to an aggressive and belligerent player which already displays its ambitions far beyond the European continent.”

Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister

"EU has become aggressive and bellicose amid Ukraine war, says Russia's Lavrov" https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/05/13/eu-has-become-aggressive-and-bellicose-amid-ukraine-war-says-russia-s-lavrov, Euronews, 13 May 2022 <br class="br">About the Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022

“American life is essentially oriented to economics, and every aspect of Life is simply referred for its justification thereto.”

Francis Parker Yockey (1917–1960) American writer

The Enemy of Europe (1953)

Life

“Our economic system puts us in a position where we can follow Christ's maxim, so impossible for you, to 'take no thought for the morrow.'”

Edward Bellamy book Equality

Equality (1897)

Christ

“You see economic science in your day was a science of things; in our day it is a science of human beings.”

Edward Bellamy book Equality

Equality (1897)

Science

“The A B C of any science of wealth production is the necessity of co-ordination and concert of effort; whereas competition, conflict, and endless cross-purposes were the sum and substance of the economic methods set forth by these writers.”

Edward Bellamy book Equality

Equality (1897)

Effort, Science, Wealth

“Our higher education system has to be a part of the economic recovery strategy.”

Gary Locke (1950) American politician

"Interview with Former Governor Gary Locke" https://greater-seattle.com/en/2020/06/11/interview-with-former-governor-gary-locke/ (11 June 2020)

Education, Parting

“The collapse of world imperialism is a long historical process comprising different types of revolutions in various countries, determined by their unequal level of economic, political and social development.”

Trường Chinh (1907–1988) former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1907-1988)

For the Centenary of Lenin’s Birth (1971) (excerpts)

World, Country

“Cooperation for development has now become the major trend of our contemporary world. We have clearly witnessed that diverse forms and scope of cooperation have taken place within and among the regions thus providing a strong boost to the world economic growth.”

Bounnhang Vorachit (1937) former General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (2016-2021)

"Keynote Address by H.E. Mr. Bounnhang Vorachith Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic" https://asean.org/keynote-address-by-h-e-mr-bounnhang-vorachith-prime-minister-of-the-lao-peoples-democratic-republic-2/ (26 July 2005)

World, Strong

“We are syndicalists, because we think that by means of the mass it may be possible to determine an economic readjustment…”

Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Duce and President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Leader of the National Fascist Party and subsequen…

“Fascismo and the Rights of Victory” speech delivered at Florence (9 October 1919) p. 106
1920s, Mussolini as Revealed in his Political Speeches (November 1914—August 1923) (1923)

Thinking

“Economics was like psychology, a pseudoscience trying to hide that fact with intense theoretical hyperelaboration. And gross domestic product was one of those unfortunate measurement concepts, like inches or the British thermal unit, that ought to have been retired long before.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

Source: Blue Mars (1996), Chapter 2, “Areophany” (p. 80)

“Even if you want no state, or a minimal state, then you still have to argue it point by point. Especially since most minimalists want to keep exactly the economic and police system that keeps them privileged. That’s libertarians for you—anarchists who want police protection from their slaves.”

Kim Stanley Robinson book Green Mars

Source: Green Mars (1993), Chapter 7, “What Is to Be Done?” (p. 370)

“Continuous expansion is a fundamental tenet of economics. Therefore one of the fundamentals of the universe itself. Because everything is economics. Physics is cosmic economics, biology is cellular economics, the humanities are social economics, psychology is mental economics, and so on.”

Kim Stanley Robinson book Green Mars

His listeners nodded unhappily.
“So everything is expanding. But it can’t happen in contradiction to the law of conservation of matter-energy. No matter how efficient your throughput is, you can’t get an output larger than the input.”
Source: Green Mars (1993), Chapter 2, “The Ambassador” (pp. 76-77)

Universe

“It is absolutely clear to everyone that the reasons for such a disastrous war as we have endured for seven years now have nothing to do with the demand for democracy or freedom. They have much more to do with a dirty game of world economics.”

Joseph Tobji (1971) archeparch of Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Aleppo

“If it weren‘t for the Church, we‘d be dead by now” https://acninternational.org/werent-church-wed-dead-now/ (6 February 2018)

War, World, Democracy, Game

“The social and economic revolution of the farm workers is well under way and will not be stopped until they receive equality.”

Dolores Huerta (1930) American labor leader

1966 speech, in Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995 by Deborah Gillan Straub

Way

“We need it badly from a purely – purely economic point of view .. constant, unrelenting stream of immigrants .. not dribbling, significant flows.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

10 June 2014 comments to National Association of Manufacturers, reported later that day https://thehill.com/regulation/business/208857-biden-hails-constant-unrelenting-stream-of-immigrants by Benjamin Goad of The Hill <br class="br">2010s, 2014

“Yahweh is Lord of all, even of economics. There is no hint here of a sacred law of supply and demand that operates independently of biblical ethics and the Lordship of Yahweh. The people of God should submit to God, and God demands economic justice among his people.”

Ron Sider (1939–2022) Canadian theologian

Source: Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (2015), p. 75

God, People, Justice, Law

“The term "Sticazzi" dedicated to a bad event, wrong people, mistakes made or wrongs received: it is a lifesaver. Natural. Economical and effective.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Il termine "Sticazzi" dedicato ad un brutto evento, persone sbagliate, errori commessi o torti ricevuti: è un salvavita. Naturale. Economico ed efficace.
Source: prevale.net

People, Nature

Quotes about economics page 33

Quotes about economics
page 33