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Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few QUOTES

Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few QUOTES

1 " The idea of a “free market” separate and distinct from government has functioned as a useful cover for those who do not want the market mechanism fully exposed. They have had the most influence over it and would rather keep it that way. The mythology is useful precisely because it hides their power. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

2 " The simultaneous rise of both the working poor and non-working rich offers further evidence that earnings no longer correlate with effort. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

3 " Yet the notion that you’re paid what you’re “worth” is by now so deeply ingrained in the public consciousness that many who earn very little assume it’s their own fault. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

4 " Government doesn’t “intrude” on the “free market.” It creates the market. The rules are neither neutral nor universal, and they are not permanent. Different societies at different times have adopted different versions. The rules partly mirror a society’s evolving norms and values but also reflect who in society has the most power to make or influence them. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

5 " There can be no “free market” without government. The “free market” does not exist in the wilds beyond the reach of civilization. Competition in the wild is a contest for survival in which the largest and strongest typically win. Civilization, by contrast, is defined by rules; rules create markets, and governments generate the rules. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

6 " Few ideas have more profoundly poisoned the minds of more people than the notion of a “free market” existing somewhere in the universe, into which government “intrudes. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

7 " A market—any market—requires that government make and enforce the rules of the game. In most modern democracies, such rules emanate from legislatures, administrative agencies, and courts. Government doesn’t “intrude” on the “free market.” It creates the market. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

8 " Lehman Brothers’ Repo 105 program—which temporarily moved billions of dollars of liability off the bank’s books at the end of each quarter and replaced them a few days later at the start of the next quarter—was intentionally designed to hide the firm’s financial weaknesses. This was a carefully crafted fraud, detailed by a court-appointed Lehman examiner. But no former Lehman executive ever faced criminal prosecution for it. Contrast this with the fact that a teenager who sells an ounce of marijuana can be put away for years. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

9 " no one should confuse income for virtue, net worth for worthiness. The underlying reality is that capitalism is not working as it should or as it can. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

10 " Edward G. Ryan, the chief justice of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, warned the graduating class of the state university in 1873. “The question will arise, and arise in your day, though perhaps not fully in mine, ‘Which shall rule—wealth or man; which shall lead—money or intellect; who shall fill public stations—educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?’  "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

11 " I do not expect to see monopoly restrain itself. If there are men in this country big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

12 " The invisible hand of the marketplace is connected to a wealthy and muscular arm. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

13 " people who believe the game is rigged are easy prey for political demagogues with fast tongues and dumb ideas. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

14 " The problem is not the size of government but whom the government is for. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

15 " As the economic historian Karl Polanyi recognized, those who argue for “less government” are really arguing for a different government—often one that favors them or their patrons.1 "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

16 " The question will arise, and arise in your day, though perhaps not fully in mine, ‘Which shall rule—wealth or man; which shall lead—money or intellect; who shall fill public stations—educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?’  "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

17 " I’m not suggesting anyone has acted illegally. To the contrary: CEOs believe they are supposed to maximize shareholder returns, and one means of accomplishing that goal is to play the political game as well as it possibly can be played and field the largest and best legal and lobbying teams available. Trade associations see their role as representing the best interests of their corporate members, which requires lobbying ferociously, raising as much money as possible for political campaigns of pliant lawmakers, and even offering jobs to former government officials. Public officials, for their part, perceive their responsibility as acting in the public interest. But the public interest is often understood as emerging from a consensus of the organized interests appearing before them. The larger and wealthier the organization, the better equipped its lawyers and its experts are to assert what’s good for the public. Any official who once worked for such an organization, or who suspects he may work for one in the future, is prone to find such arguments especially persuasive. Inside the mechanism of the “free market,” the economic and political power of the new monopolies feed off and enlarge each other. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

18 " Do you recall a time when the income of a single schoolteacher or baker or salesman or mechanic was enough to buy a home, have two cars, and raise a family? "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

19 " As income and wealth have concentrated at the top, political power has moved there as well. Money and power are inextricably linked. And with power has come influence over the market mechanism. The invisible hand of the marketplace is connected to a wealthy and muscular arm. It is perhaps no accident that those who argue most vehemently on behalf of an immutable and rational “free market” and against government “intrusion” are often the same people who exert disproportionate influence over the market mechanism. They champion “free enterprise” and equate the “free market” with liberty while quietly altering the rules of the game to their own advantage. They extol freedom without acknowledging the growing imbalance of power in our society that’s eroding the freedoms of most people. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few

20 " The meritocratic claim that people are paid what they are worth in the market is a tautology that begs the questions of how the market is organized and whether that organization is morally and economically defensible. In truth, income and wealth increasingly depend on who has the power to set the rules of the game. "

― Robert B. Reich , Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few