The contented and economically comfortable have a very discriminating view of government. Nobody is ever indignant about bailing out failed banks and failed savings and loans associations. But when taxes must be paid for the lower middle class and poor,…

Quote by John Kenneth Galbraith

Topics: Government Quotes

Few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them...

Few people at the beginning of the nineteenth century needed an adman to tell them...

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

Meetings are indispensable when you don't want to do anything.

Economics is a subject profoundly conducive to cliche, resonant with boredom. On few topics is...

Economics is a subject profoundly conducive to cliche, resonant with boredom. On few topics is...

It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or...

It is not necessary to advertise food to hungry people, fuel to cold people, or...

Commencement oratory must eschew anything that smacks of partisan politics, political preference, sex, religion or...

Commencement oratory must eschew anything that smacks of partisan politics, political preference, sex, religion or...

In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire...

In economics, hope and faith coexist with great scientific pretension and also a deep desire...

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.

The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled.

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous...

Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous...

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory.

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.

The enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events.

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.

War remains the decisive human failure.

War remains the decisive human failure.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.

Modesty is a vastly overrated virtue.

There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which...

There is an insistent tendency among serious social scientists to think of any institution which...

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.

In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.

It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals....

It would be foolish to suggest that government is a good custodian of aesthetic goals....

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

It is a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's...

It is a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's...

I really think that Americans can solve the problems that we have very easily, together,...

I really think that Americans can solve the problems that we have very easily, together,...