Quotes about economy
page 15

Shaun Chamberlin photo

“Our globalised world finds itself caught on the horns of a seemingly impossible dilemma – either cease growing, and so collapse the economy on which we all depend, or continue to grow until we overwhelm and destroy the ecosystems on which we all depend.”

Shaun Chamberlin

"The Sequel: Life After Economic Growth", Tikkun (2018) https://www.tikkun.org/the-sequel-life-after-economic-growth

World , Dependency
Richard D. Wolff photo

“A worker-coop based economy—where workers democratically run enterprises, deciding what, how and where to produce, and what to do with any profits—could, and likely would, put social needs and goals (like proper preparation for pandemics) ahead of profits. Workers are the majority in all capitalist societies; their interests are those of the majority. Employers are always a small minority; theirs are the "special interests" of that minority. Capitalism gives that minority the position, profits and power to determine how the society as a whole lives or dies. That's why all employees now wonder and worry about how long our jobs, incomes, homes and bank accounts will last—if we still have them. A minority (employers) decides all those questions and excludes the majority (employees) from making those decisions, even though that majority must live with their results. Of course, the top priority now is to put public health and safety first. To that end, employees across the country are now thinking about refusing to obey orders to work in unsafe job conditions. U.S. capitalism has thus placed a general strike on today's social agenda. A close second priority is to learn from capitalism's failure in the face of the pandemic. We must not suffer such a dangerous and unnecessary social breakdown again. Thus system change is now also moving onto today's social agenda.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

COVID-19 and the Failures of Capitalism (2020)

Home , Question , Country , Suffering
Richard D. Wolff photo

“The problem of policies aimed to return the economy to what it was before the virus hit is this: Global capitalism, by 2019, was itself a major cause of the collapse in 2020. Capitalism's scars from the crashes of 2000 and 2008-2009 had not healed. Years of low interest rates had enabled corporations and governments to "solve" all their problems by borrowing limitlessly at almost zero interest rate cost. All the new money pumped into economies by central banks had indeed caused the feared inflation, but chiefly in stock markets whose prices consequently spiraled dangerously far away from underlying economic values and realities. Inequalities of income and wealth reached historic highs. ​In short, capitalism had built up vulnerabilities to another crash that any number of possible triggers could unleash. The trigger this time was not the dot.com meltdown of 2000 or the sub-prime meltdown of 2008/9; it was a virus. And of course, mainstream ideology requires focusing on the trigger, not the vulnerability. Thus mainstream policies aim to reestablish pre-virus capitalism. Even if they succeed, that will return us to a capitalist system whose accumulated vulnerabilities will soon again collapse from yet another trigger.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

COVID-19 and the Failures of Capitalism (2020)

Money , Time , Wealth , Problem
Richard D. Wolff photo

“The desperate policies of panic-driven governments involve throwing huge amounts of money at the economies collapsed in response to the coronavirus threat. Monetary authorities create money and lend it at extremely low interest rates to the major corporations and especially big banks "to get them through the crisis." Government treasuries borrow vast sums to get the collapsed economy back into what they imagine is "the normal, pre-virus economy."”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

Capitalism's leaders are rushing into policy failures because of their ideological blinders.
COVID-19 and the Failures of Capitalism (2020)

Money , Imagination
Richard D. Wolff photo

“A country that promises it is committed to democracy has never faced the fact that in the enterprise we don’t have democracy. We have a tiny group of people making all the decisions. And that’s not a good idea. And maybe now we can face that the decisions they’ve made, individually and collectively, have plunged us into a situation where we cannot afford the luxury of not facing basic questions about how our economy is organized. We should have done it for the last 50 years. Maybe this new generation of young people coming into the Congress will begin that conversation and, hopefully, bring us along into a national debate on these subjects, which is long overdue.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

We Need a More Humane Economic System—Not One That Only Benefits the Rich (December 26, 2018)

Democracy , Question , Country , People
Richard D. Wolff photo

“We have a lot of employment, but the quality of the jobs has collapsed over the last 10 years. The people who work now used to be people who had a job with good income, good benefits and good security. The jobs, overwhelmingly, created have none of those things: low wages—that’s why our wages have gone nowhere; bad benefits—those are shrinking, pensions and so on; and the security is virtually gone. One of our biggest problems in America is people don’t know one week to the next what hours they’re working, what income they’ll get. You can’t have a life like this. So, what we’ve done is we’ve ratcheted down the quality of jobs. We’ve made people use up their savings since the great crash of 2008, so they’re in a bind. They have really no choice but to offer themselves at lower wages or at less benefit or at less security than before, which is why there’s the anger, which is why there was the vote for Mr. Trump in the first place, because this talk of recovery really is about that stock market with the funny money that the Fed Reserve pumped in, but is not about the real lives of people, which are in serious trouble, hence the numbers, like a average American family can’t get a $400 emergency cost because it doesn’t have that kind of money in the background. So, you’ve undone the underlying economy, you have this frothy stock market for the 1 percent, and this is an impossible tension tearing the country apart.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

We Need a More Humane Economic System—Not One That Only Benefits the Rich (December 26, 2018)

Money , Family , Anger , Country
Richard D. Wolff photo

“Well, you know, the irony is, it’s one of the bizarre ways an economy works. There was no incentive to take all that money and go in and produce things that might have driven up prices and so on, because the people in America can’t afford to buy it. Our wages have been stagnant. The debts have been so big that people are afraid to borrow the way they once did, even though they still do, but not at the growing scale as before. So, all that extra money kind of went into the stock market to make itself make quick money by buying shares, hoping that they would go up. And if all the rich people who get it into their hands do that kind of thing, you see the stock market go up, but the underlying economy doesn’t go anywhere. And again, after a while, that’s not a sustainable arrangement.”

Richard D. Wolff (1942) American economist

On why hasn’t inflation increased dramatically in the U.S despite the Federal Reserve kept interest rates low.
We Need a More Humane Economic System—Not One That Only Benefits the Rich (December 26, 2018)

Money , Hope , People , Way
Wendell Berry photo

“By this time, the era of cut-and-run economics ought to be finished. Such an economy cannot be rationally defended or even apologized for. The proofs of its immense folly, heartlessness, and destructiveness are everywhere. Its failure as a way of dealing with the natural world and human society can no longer be sanely denied. That this economic system persists and grows larger and stronger in spite of its evident failure has nothing to do with rationality or, for that matter, with evidence. It persists because, embodied now in multinational corporations, it has discovered a terrifying truth: If you can control a people’s economy, you don’t need to worry about its politics; its politics have become irrelevant. If you control people’s choices as to whether or not they will work, and where they will work, and what they will do, and how well they will do it, and what they will eat and wear, and the genetic makeup of their crops and animals, and what they will do for amusement, then why should you worry about freedom of speech? In a totalitarian economy, any "political liberties" that the people might retain would simply cease to matter. If, as is often the case already, nobody can be elected who is not wealthy, and if nobody can be wealthy without dependence on the corporate economy, then what is your vote worth? The citizen thus becomes an economic subject.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"Conserving Forest Communities"
Another Turn of the Crank (1996)

Time , Dependency , Freedom , People
Wendell Berry photo

“Anybody interested in solving, rather than profiting from, the problems of food production and distribution will see that in the long run the safest food supply is a local food supply, not a supply that is dependent on a global economy. Nations and regions within nations must be left free — and should be encouraged — to develop the local food economies that best suit local needs and local conditions.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"A Bad Big Idea"
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community (1993)

Problem , Dependency , Food
Marianne Williamson photo

“Economic system of the US was created & designed before women had a voice in the public realm. We do have a voice now; it’s important that we use it not to fit into the system but to change the system. The main engine of our economy should be the care & nurturance of our children”

Marianne Williamson (1952) American writer

Twitter https://twitter.com/marwilliamson (2 Oct 2019)
Williamson's quotes in social media

Children , Women , Change
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn photo

“Had they thought of the relations between Imperialism and social reform? Could we continue this process of territorial expansion with our increasing Budgets? What we wanted was resolute and sustained attention to strengthening our industrial position. What was the use of conquering new markets when it was as much as we could do to hold the markets which we had already? (Cheers.) As to the Liberal policy...the day when the Liberal party forsook its old principles of peace, economy, and reform the Liberal party would have to disband and to disappear. (Cheers.) The Socialists would take its place. ... [I]f he were to choose between the Socialist and the Militarist, with all his random aims, his profusion of national resources, his disregard for the rights and feelings of other people, he himself declared he considered the Socialist's standards were higher and their means were no less wise.”

John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor

Cheers.

Speech to the Palmerston Club, Oxford (9 June 1900), quoted in The Times (11 June 1900), p. 3
1900s

Peace , People , Feeling , Relation ships
Ellen Brown photo

“Money might... indeed become a servant of humanity, transformed from a tool of oppression into a means of securing common prosperity. But first the central bank needs to become a public servant. It needs to be made a public utility, responsive to the needs of the people and the economy.”

Ellen Brown (1945) American writer

The Fed’s “Emergency Measures” Are Becoming the New Normal, TruthOut https://truthout.org/articles/qe-forever-the-feds-dramatic-about-face/ (27 February 2019)

Money , People
Ron Paul photo

“In a free-market economy, the consumer is king: labor unions don't run things, business people don't run things, bankers don't run things, politicians don't run things, but the success of a business depends on how people spend their money.”

Ron Paul (1935) American politician and physician

In response to the question "What is your opinion on direct democracy, where the citizens themselves make law, rather than elected representatives?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nfaTZNWcI (May 14, 2015)
2015

Money , Dependency , Success , Business
Steven Best photo

“Attacking the new slave economy as it does, the animal liberation movement is a significant threat to global capital. Animal liberation challenges large sectors of the capitalist economy by assailing corporate agriculture and pharmaceutical giants and their suppliers. Far from being irrelevant to social movements, animal rights can form the basis for a broad coalition of progressive social groups and drive changes that strike at the heart of capitalist exploitation of animals, people, and the earth.”

Steven Best (1955) American activist

Source: The Politics of Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century (2014), Chapter 4 "Rethinking Revolution: Veganism, Animal Liberation, Ecology, and the Left" (p. 103)

Animals , People , Heart , Change
Milton Friedman photo

“The view has been gaining widespread acceptance that corporate officials and labor leaders have a "social responsibility"... beyond serving the interests of their stockholders or their members. This view shows a fundamental misconception of the character of a free economy. In such an economy there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception fraud. Similarly, the "social responsibility" of labor leaders is to serve the interests of the members of their unions. It is the responsibility of the rest of us to establish a framework of law such that an individual... is, to quote Adam Smith... "led by an invisible hand... I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good."”

Milton Friedman book Capitalism and Freedom

Source: Capitalism and Freedom (1962), Ch. 8 Monopoly and the Social Responsibility of Business and Labor, p. 133

Law , Business , Fraud , Game
Thomas Sowell photo

“The greatness of a free-market economy is that it does not depend upon the wisdom of those who happen to be on top at the moment.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

“Rise and fall of a business,” Monterey Herald, December 30, 2000
2000s

Wisdom , Dependency
John F. Kennedy photo

“So that as I tried to say in my speech, we are not faced with the question of balancing our budget, or having a tax reduction. I believe we are faced with the fact that we are going to have a deficit mostly because of the sharp rise in the recent years in space and defense, and to increase our taxes sufficient to bring that budget into balance would be defeating, because of course it would provide a heavy deflationary effect on our economy, and move us into a recession at an accelerated rate.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Question
John F. Kennedy photo

“Well, the purpose of reform really is directed to the encouraging of growth and employment. I quite agree that to launch into a full scale battle on general reform for academic reasons would be unwise. The central purpose behind the reform must therefore be to encourage those changes in our tax laws which will encourage economic growth for that purpose, and not merely because it might have some longer range interest or significance. The primary job will be to encourage the flow of capital into those areas which stimulate the national growth and not diminish it. But it is going to be a tough fight, because once you spell out, as I said before, reform, it's bound to affect adversely the interests of some, while favoring the interests of others. Therefore reform may be a longer task, and we are anxious that in the effort to get reform, that we do not lose the very important matter of tax reduction for the sake of the economy.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Fight , Change , Law , Effort
John F. Kennedy photo

“I do not underestimate the obstacles which the Congress will face in enacting such legislation. No one will be satisfied. Everyone will have his own approach, his own bill, his own reduction. A high order of restraint and determination will be required if the possible is not to wait on the perfect. But a nation capable of marshaling these qualities in any dramatic threat to its security is surely capable, as a great free society, of meeting a slower and more complex threat to our economic vitality. This Nation can afford to reduce taxes, we can afford a temporary deficit, but we cannot afford to do nothing. For on the strength of our free economy rests the hope of all free nations. We shall not fail that hope, for free men and free nations must prosper and they must prevail.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Perfection , Waiting , Hope , Men
John F. Kennedy photo

“I repeat: our practical choice is not between a tax-cut deficit and a budgetary surplus. It is between two kinds of deficits: a chronic deficit of inertia, as the unwanted result of inadequate revenues and a restricted economy; or a temporary deficit of transition, resulting from a tax cut designed to boost the economy, increase tax revenues, and achieve--and I believe this can be done--a budget surplus. The first type of deficit is a sign of waste and weakness; the second reflects an investment in the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Future
John F. Kennedy photo

“Our true choice is not between tax reduction, on the one hand, and the avoidance of large Federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits. Surely the lesson of the last decade is that budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders but by slow economic growth and periodic recessions, and any new recession would break all deficit records. In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now. The experience of a number of European countries and Japan have borne this out. This country's own experience with tax reduction in 1954 has borne this out. And the reason is that only full employment can balance the budget, and tax reduction can pave the way to that employment. The purpose of cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Way , Truth , Country
John F. Kennedy photo

“If the economy today were operating close to capacity levels with little unemployment, or if a sudden change in our military requirements should cause a scramble for men and resources, then I would oppose tax reductions as irresponsible and inflationary; and I would not hesitate to recommend a tax increase, if that were necessary. But our resources and manpower are not being fully utilized; the general level of prices has been remarkably stable; and increased competition, both at home and abroad, along with increased productivity will help keep both prices and wages within appropriate limits.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Men , Home , Help , Change
John F. Kennedy photo

“I am talking about the accumulated evidence of the last 5 years that our present tax system, developed as it was, in good part, during World War II to restrain growth, exerts too heavy a drag on growth in peace time; that it siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power; that it reduces the financial incentives for personal effort, investment, and risk-taking. In short, to increase demand and lift the economy, the Federal Government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures. [...] While rising demand will expand imports, new investment in more efficient productive facilities will aid exports and a new economic climate could both draw capital from abroad and keep capital here at home.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Home , Peace , Drawing , Time
John F. Kennedy photo

“There are a number of ways by which the Federal Government can meet its responsibilities to aid economic growth. We can and must improve American education and technical training. We can and must expand civilian research and technology. One of the great bottlenecks for this country's economic growth in this decade will be the shortage of doctorates in mathematics, engineering, and physics; a serious shortage with a great demand and an under-supply of highly trained manpower. We can and must step up the development of our natural resources. But the most direct and significant kind of Federal action aiding economic growth is to make possible an increase in private consumption and investment demand--to cut the fetters which hold back private spending. In the past, this could be done in part by the increased use of credit and monetary tools, but our balance of payments situation today places limits on our use of those tools for expansion. It could also be done by increasing Federal expenditures more rapidly than necessary, but such a course would soon demoralize both the Government and our economy. If Government is to retain the confidence of the people, it must not spend more than can be justified on grounds of national need or spent with maximum efficiency.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Confidence , Country , Past , People
John F. Kennedy photo

“But a leading nation, a nation upon which all depend not only in this country but around the world, cannot afford to be satisfied, to look back or to pause. On our strength and growth depend the strength of others, the spread of free world trade and unity, and continued confidence in our leadership and our currency. The underdeveloped countries are dependent upon us for the sale of their primary commodities and for aid to their struggling economies. In short, a prosperous and growing America is important not only to Americans--it is, as the spokesman for 20 Western nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, as he stressed this week, of vital importance to the entire Western World.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

Confidence , Dependency , Country , Self-confidence
John F. Kennedy photo

“Less than a month ago this Nation reminded the world that it possessed both the will and the weapons to meet any threat to the security of free men. The gains we have made will not be given up, and the course that we have pursued will not be abandoned. But in the long run, that security will not be determined by military or diplomatic moves alone. It will be affected by the decisions of finance ministers as well as by the decisions of Secretaries of State and Secretaries of Defense; by the deployment of fiscal and monetary weapons as well as by military weapons; and above all by the strength of this Nation's economy as well as by the strength of our defenses.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Source: 1962, Address and Question and Answer Period at the Economic Club of New York

World , Men , Decision
Neil Kinnock photo

“[Labour has] always believed that the community as a whole should have a greater control over these “commanding heights of the economy.””

Neil Kinnock (1942) British politician

Source: ‘Introduction’, in Why Vote Labour? (1979), p. 3, quoted in Tudor Jones, ‘Neil Kinnock's socialist journey’, Contemporary Record, Volume 8, Issue 3 (1994), p. 569

Communication
Joe Biden photo

“You get a tax break for a racehorse, why in God's name couldn't we provide an $8,000 tax credit for everybody who has childcare costs? It would put 720 million women back in the workforce. It would increase the GDP, to sound like a wonk here, by about eight-tenths of one percent. It would grow the economy.”

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

17 September 2019
Biden vows tax credit will put '720 million women' back in workforce
Joseph Wulfsohn
Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-gaffe-put-720-million-women-in-workforce
2010s, 2019

God , Women
Thomas Jackson photo

“War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to throw up breastworks, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end. To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory is the secret of successful war.”

Thomas Jackson (1824–1863) Confederate general

As quoted in Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War (1904) by George Francis Robert Henderson http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12233, Ch. 25 : The Soldier and the Man, p. 481
Q him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow…]]

Time , Success , Business , Country
Donald J. Trump photo

“In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzner, as quoted by * Trump in '04: 'I probably identify more as Democrat'
CNN
Chris Moody
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/21/politics/donald-trump-election-democrat/index.html
2000s, 2004

Way , Bad luck
J. Howard Moore photo

“[S]ince vegetal fat is identical chemically with animal fat, and vegetal protein with animal protein, since these substances are found abundantly in non-flesh products, and since the only other food substances used by man (starch and sugar) are not found except in plants and plant products, it may be asserted positively that from the standpoint of food-supply there is no reason why man should prey when he eats. The plant world contains all of the compounds necessary for human alimentation, it contains them abundantly, it contains them in forms of the highest delicacy and the greatest variety and economy, and it contains them in a much more prime condition than they are found in the diseased tissues of our mistreated servants.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: The New Ethics (1907), What Shall We Eat?, pp. 92–93

World , Animals , Disease , Food
J. Howard Moore photo

“From the standpoint of economy alone, the diet of the fields and orchards ought to appeal successfully to every one possessed of undoubted sanity. One acre devoted to wheat will support ten times as many men as one devoted to grazing. If men would take the beautiful products of the soil fresh from Nature's hand, instead of sitting down and devouring, in the form of the accumulated residuum or ruminants^ an acre at a meal, the problems o human poverty and over-population would be immensely simplified.”

J. Howard Moore (1862–1916)

Source: The New Ethics (1907), What Shall We Eat?, p. 92

Time , Support , Beauty , Nature
Giacomo Casanova photo

“Economy in pleasure is not to my taste.”

Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice

Memoirs of J. Casanova de Seingalt (1894)

Pleasure
David Cay Johnston photo

“Rather than building the economy for all of us, we are mining the bottom to benefit the top.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

David Cay Johnston: The Perils Of Our Growing Inequality (Jun 1, 2014)

Donald J. Trump photo

“We have the worst revival of an economy since the Great Depression. And believe me: We're in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market, but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that's going to come crashing down.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2016, September 2016, First presidential debate (September 26, 2016)

William Ewart Gladstone photo

“Public economy is part of public virtue.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Letter to Welby (26 October 1887), quoted in Anthony Howe, Free Trade and Liberal England 1846–1946 (1997), p. 19
1880s

Parting
William Ewart Gladstone photo

“I deeply deplore the oblivion into which public economy has fallen; the prevailing disposition to make a luxury of panics, which multitudes seem to enjoy as they would a sensational novel or a highly seasoned cookery; and the leaning of both parties to socialism, which I radically disapprove.”

William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United Kingdom

Letter to the Duke of Argyll (30 September 1885), quoted in John Morley, The Life of William Ewart Gladstone, Volume III (1903), p. 221
1880s

Making love , Season
Karl Polanyi photo

“The economy as an instituted process of interaction serving the satisfaction of material wants forms a vital part of every human community. Without an economy in this sense, no society could exist for any length of time.”

Karl Polanyi (1886–1964) economist, philosopher and historian

Source: The Livelihood of Man (1977), Ch. 2 : The Two Meanings of Economic

Communication , Time , Parting , Sense
Nursultan Nazarbayev photo

“I have always been and remain a sincere supporter of the well-known formula – "Economy first, then politics."”

Nursultan Nazarbayev (1940) first president of Kazakhstan

This principle is comprehensive, extending to both domestic and foreign policy of our country. This approach ensured consistency in all spheres of Kazakhstan's development, i.e. from economic reforms to building pragmatic relations with partners in the international arena.
"Speech At Moscow State University" https://www.akorda.kz/en/speeches/external_political_affairs/ext_speeches_and_addresses/speech-of-the-president-of-kazakhstan-nursultan-nazarbayev-at-the-lomonosov-moscow-state-university (2014)

Support , Sincerity
James Howard Kunstler photo

“The so-called global economy was not a permanent institution, […] but a set of transient circumstances peculiar to a certain time: the Indian summer of the fossil fuel era.”

James Howard Kunstler book The Long Emergency

Source: The Long Emergency (2005), Chapter 1, p. 12.

Time , Summer

“Policies and business strategies that worked well in the industrial era are a recipe for stagnation and decline in the new economy”

John Roth (1942) Canadian businessman

John Roth https://web.archive.org/web/20110523072731/http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/1225/poy_roth.html December 25, 2000

Business
Kim Dae-jung photo

“In an era of a global economy, we can't survive without foreign investment. We must change our attitude toward foreign investment. We should welcome it.”

Kim Dae-jung (1924–2009) South Korean politician

"New S. Korea Leader Warns of Hardship" in The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/kimdaejung/kimdaejung.htm (18 January 1998)

Change
Kim Dae-jung photo

“I believe democracy is the foundation of a healthy economy. Without genuine democracy you cannot have a genuine market economy. And, under the market economy, one must fully open doors to allow free trade and investment.”

Kim Dae-jung (1924–2009) South Korean politician

"Interview: President Kim Dae Jung" in TIME Asia http://www.cnn.com/ASIANOW/time/magazine/99/0913/interview.html (13 September 1999)

Democracy
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo

“The lottery is similar to inheritance. The winner gets more than he deserves, plunging the economy into chaos.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author
Ren Zhengfei photo

“I personally believe that politics and the economy can be and should be separated.”

Ren Zhengfei (1944) Chinese businessman

Interview with CNN (November 26, 2019)

Personality
Bruce Friedrich photo

“We don't want to disrupt the meat industry, we want to transform it. We need their economies of scale, their global supply chain, their marketing expertise and their massive consumer base.”

Bruce Friedrich (1969) Member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

TED Talk: The next global agricultural revolution https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_friedrich_the_next_global_agricultural_revolution/, 2019

Alfred Marshall photo

“Political Economy or Economics is a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life; it examines that part of individual and social action which is most closely connected with the attainment and with the use of the material requisites of wellbeing.”

Alfred Marshall book Principles of Economics

Bk I, Ch. I, Introduction
Principles of Economics, (1890)

Study , Business , Life , Parting
Sheyene Gerardi photo

“Because planned economies have historically failed, new modeling techniques are needed.”

Sheyene Gerardi Venezuelan actor and model

[Sheyene Institute Founder`s Letter, http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=38c46884-5abc-491a-89aa-c9bb0b71195c]

Yoshihide Suga photo

“A strong economy is the source of national strength”

Yoshihide Suga (1948) 99th Prime Minister of Japan

We cannot realize financial reconstruction and enhance social security without a strong economy. We must correct what we find objectively wrong. What I always keep in mind is that we'll take action on things that need to be done, promptly and without hesitation

Strong
Zoran Milanović photo

“We, as a small country and a small economy, contribute little or nothing to climate change and global warming.”

Zoran Milanović (1966) Croatian politician

"Croatian President Elect Zoran Milanović Gives First TV Interview" in Total Croatia News https://www.total-croatia-news.com/politics/40884-croatian-president-milanovic (17 January 2020)

Country , Change
Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj photo

“We arrived from being the most isolated and closed communist regime in the world to one of the most open. Today we have a dynamic market economy, a vibrant, creative society.”

Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj (1963) Mongolian politician

Source: "Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj visits European Parliament" https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/eu-affairs/20150605STO63234/mongolian-president-tsakhiagiin-elbegdorj-visits-european-parliament (9 June 2015)

World
Jack Conte photo

“The growth of the creator economy has accelerated much faster than I ever could have dreamed of when we began this journey eight years ago. We are at a critical inflection point and I’m excited to partner closely with Tiffany to scale our teams to power our next phase of growth.”

Jack Conte (1984) American musician and entrepreneur

Source: Patreon chief: IPO “on the table” but not all creators will benefit https://www.verdict.co.uk/patreon-ipo/ (October 22, 2021)

Dreams
Jean-Marc Jancovici photo

“Material can follow a circular path, but energy can only add up. One of the challenges is that even "circular economy" needs "linear energy."”

Jean-Marc Jancovici (1962) French engineer and energy climate specialist

Source: "Energy: basic facts for an informed debate" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAMA4mT0z0, 2012.

Steven Crowder photo

“I know that I can give you examples of failed Socialist economies until I'm blue in the face and you won't care. Because of course Socialism is inherently more moral, more altruistic than the evil, greedy, capitalist warmongering seen in the West.”

Steven Crowder (1987) American actor

to be sorted

Evil
Liu Yandong photo

“Overcapacity in steel production is a worldwide problem. The main reasons for this are the slow recovery of the global economy and shrinking demand.”

Liu Yandong (1945) Chinese politician

Source: "Chinese Vice Premier: Germany Can Trust Us" in Handelsblatt https://www.handelsblatt.com/english/politics/handelsblatt-interview-chinese-vice-premier-germany-can-trust-us/23542860.html?ticket=ST-3429686-pwkpyaicAuKXkd15MSqn-cas01.example.org (25 November 2016)

Problem

“Brains are in; heavy lifting is out. That's the essential nature of the new knowledge-based economy. Therefore, the development of knowledge is close to job No. 1 for corporations.”

Tom Peters (1942) American writer on business management practices

Source: Tom Peters Daily, Weekly Quote
08 November 2021

Nature , Knowledge
Nambaryn Enkhbayar photo

“We aim to develop as a nation where healthy, educated people will live without poverty ... building a democratic country that is environmentally friendly, is connected to international financial networks, has a competitive economy and respects human rights.”

Nambaryn Enkhbayar (1958) Mongolian politician, Leader of Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party

Source: "In-depth interview - Reviving Mongolia’s early globalism" in Korea JoongAng Daily https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2007/06/05/people/Indepth-interviewReviving-Mongolias-early-globalism/2876407.html (5 June 2007)

People , Education , Country
Wang Qishan photo

“The Chinese and U.S. economies are inseparable, and that's the reality.”

Wang Qishan (1948) Chinese politician

Source: "China and US economies 'inseparable,' Wang Qishan tells Davos" in Nikkei Asia https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-and-US-economies-inseparable-Wang-Qishan-tells-Davos (24 January 2019)

Reality
Oby Ezekwesili photo

“To reduce opportunities for corruption, you do things like structural changes in the economy.”

Oby Ezekwesili (1963) Nigerian accountant, politician, human rights activist, convener of bring back our girls (Chibok girls) and pres…

Source: https://independent.ng/2019debate-30-powerful-quotes-from-oby-ezekwesili-reactions-to-questions/ Oby Ezekwesili's reply to question during 2019 presidential debate.

Change

“Companies that had laid off staff and those that had abandoned projects are going back to sites and the economy will bounce back.”

Kemi Adeosun (1967) Nigerian accountant, investment banker and politician (born 1967)

“Financial services are the lifeblood of an economy, enabling households and businesses alike to save, invest, and protect themselves against risk.”

Ibukun Awosika (1962) Nigerian business magnate

Source: https://theafricadebate.com/news-2018/2018/an-interview-with-ibukun-awosika Speaking in an interview about herself (April 18 2018)

Business

“I believe that women in rural India needs right tools on the right time for accelerating the growth of economy.”

Namita Priya

[imdb.com, Namita Priya: I am an entertainer, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12364555/, 1 June, 2020]
[goodreads.com, Namita Priya: goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/namitapriya, 15 August, 2020]
Famous Quotes

Time , Women
Henri-Marie Dondra photo

“There are reforms that we must pursue with our French partners. I am also thinking of the European Union ..., the international community and obviously our strategic partner France, and other partners will allow us to revive the (country's) economy.”

Henri-Marie Dondra (1966) prime Minister of the Central African Republic

Source: Henri-Marie Dondra (2021) cited in " Central African Republic's new PM makes new economic calls to France https://www.africanews.com/2021/06/16/central-african-republic-s-new-pm-makes-new-economic-calls-to-france/" on Africa News, 16 June 2021.

Country , Communication , Thinking

“A large fraction of our total economy has grown up around providing service and counseling to inadequate people—and inadequate people are the main product of government compulsion schools.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

The Exhausted School: Bending The Bars of Traditional Education, Berkeley Hills Books; 2 edition (2002) p. 53

People , School
Xiomara Castro photo

“This important act reflects the will of a people demanding unity, especially within the opposition, in order to defeat the dictatorship... I want a social pact with every sector, the productive sectors, with business, with workers, with teachers, with farmers and campesinos, with the informal economy and small and medium-sized businesses”

Xiomara Castro (1959) First Lady of Honduras

Source: Quoted in Could Honduras Shift Left? A Look at Xiomara Castro, by Brendan O'Boyle, America's Quarterly, October 14, 2021

People , Teachers , Business

“The secret of American schooling is that it doesn't teach the way children learn, and it isn't supposed to; school was engineered to serve a concealed command economy and a deliberately re-stratified social order. It wasn't made for the benefit of kids and families as those individuals and institutions would define their own needs. School is the first impression children get of organized society; like most first impressions, it is the lasting one. Life according to school is dull and stupid, only consumption promises relief: Coke, Big Macs, fashion jeans, that's where real meaning is found, that is the classroom's lesson, however indirectly delivered.”

John Taylor Gatto book The Underground History of American Education

Source: The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling (2001), pp. 105-106

Fashion , Life , Children , Learning

“When American schooling stopped being primary for mental development and character training,.. it became a training ground to supply the existing economy with a particular kind of labor and customers that it needed. One buried byproduct of this shift was to sabotage free market principles. Because by conditioning children to what is, instead of what could be, it heavily subsidized existed commerce and social political dispositions.”

John Taylor Gatto (1935–2018) American teacher, book author

Source: “A Different Kind of Teacher: Nobody can educate you except yourself,” C-SPAN (January 5, 2001) https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4653000/educate-yourself

Training , Children , School
Kamala Harris photo

“Our economy cannot fully recover unless women can participate fully. I believe, I think we all believe, this is a national emergency — women leaving the workforce in these numbers is a national emergency, which demands a national solution.”

Kamala Harris (1964) United States Senator from California

Source: " Kamala Harris: Women Are Facing A National Emergency https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/kamala-harris-women-national-emergency_n_602ec604c5b66da5dba0101a?ri18n=true" (February 18, 2021)

Women , Thinking

“Degrowth is completely different. It is about shifting to a different kind of economy altogether – an economy that doesn't need growth in the first place. An economy that's organised around human flourishing and ecological stability, rather than around the constant accumulation of capital.”

Jason Hickel (1982) author

Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World (2021)
Source: Pathways to a Post-Capitalist World, p. 207

Andrei Vyshinsky photo

“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
Michael Hudson (economist) photo

“There are essentially two types of society: mixed economies with public checks and balances, and oligarchies that dismantle and privatize the state, taking over its monetary and credit system, the land and basic infrastructure to enrich themselves but choking the economy, not helping it grow.”

Michael Hudson (economist) (1939) American economist

Source: The Destiny of Civilization https://michael-hudson.com/2022/05/the-destiny-of-civilization/, May 15, 2022

Help
Yoshihide Suga photo

“We cannot realize financial reconstruction and enhance social security without a strong economy. It’s impossible to pursue foreign and security policy based on our stance without a strong economy.”

Yoshihide Suga (1948) 99th Prime Minister of Japan

Use 2020 Olympics to lift economy, Suga urges execs, Masaaki, Kameda, Japan Times, November 4, 2013 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/11/04/business/use-2020-olympics-to-lift-economy-suga-urges-execs/,

Strong

“Judgements on the performance of our economy require a clearly defined objective. Too often... there are multiple and contradictory objectives. Unless we are clear on our... objectives, we are not able to evaluate performance as good or bad...”

Henry Kaufman (1927) American economist

Interest Rates, the Markets, and the New Financial World (1986)

Sam Slom photo

“A healthy economy or a healthy population are not mutually exclusive.”

Sam Slom (1942) American politician

Candidate Q&A: State Senate District 9 — Sam Slom https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/09/candidate-qa-state-senate-district-9-sam-slom/ (14 September 2020)

Sergey Lavrov photo

“A new reality is being formed: the unipolar world is irrevocably becoming a thing of the past, a multipolar one is taking shape. It’s an objective process. It’s unstoppable. In this reality, more than one power will “rule” it will be necessary to negotiate between all the key states that today have a decisive influence on the world economy and politics. At the same time, realizing their special situation, these countries ensure compliance with the basic principles of the UN Charter, including the fundamental one – the sovereign equality of states. No one on this Earth should be seen as a minor player. Everyone is equal and sovereign.”

Sergey Lavrov (1950) Russian politician and Foreign Minister

As quoted in Meet the New, Resource-Based Global Reserve Currency https://www.unz.com/pescobar/meet-the-new-resource-based-global-reserve-currency/, 31 March 2022

Country , Reality , Decision , World
Aristotle photo

“But it is clear there is a difference in the ends proposed: for in some cases they are activities, and in others results beyond the mere activities, and where there are certain ends beyond and beside the actions, the results are naturally superior to the activities. Now, as there are numerous kinds of actions and numerous arts and sciences, it follows that the ends are also various. Thus the end of the healing art is health, of ship-building ships, of strategy victory, of economy wealth.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

Bk I, Ch I
The Ethics Of Aristotle (Vol. I)

Health , Science , Wealth , Victory
Joe Biden photo

“We need to pass an immigration bill, look at Germany, look at the rest of the world, we're the only non-xenophobic nation in the world that's a major economy.”

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

10 June 2014 from same speech, YouTube audio excerpt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKnCCzAv3s4&t=34 via the DC Examiner
2010s, 2014

World