Quotes on economics

The country needs to be born again, she is polluted with the lust of power, the lust of gain."

--Margaret Fuller, literary critic, New York Tribune, July 4, 1845--




"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living in society, they create for themselves, in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it."

--Frederic Bastiat, "The Law" (1850)--


"The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy."

--Alex Carey, Australian social scientist--




"The idea that egotism is the basis of the general welfare is the principle on which competitive society has been built."

--Erich Fromm, German-American social psychologist--

"The private-benefit corporation is an institution granted a legally protected right -- some would claim obligation -- to pursue a narrow private interest without regard to broader social and environmental consequences. If it were a real person, it would fit the clinical profile of a sociopath."

--David Korten--

"Get off this estate."
"What for?"
"Because it's mine."
"Where did you get it?"
"From my father."
"Where did he get it?"
"From his father."
"And where did he get it?"
"He fought for it."
"Well, I'll fight you for it."
--Carl Sandburg--




"It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every twelve minutes one is interrupted by twelve dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper."

--Rod Serling, famed TV writer--



"If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."
--George Bernard Shaw--