In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble. – Robert Reich
Technology is changing so fast that knowledge about specifics can quickly become obsolete. That’s why so much of what technicians learn is on the job. – Robert Reich
America is one of few advanced nations that allow direct advertising of prescription drugs. – Robert Reich
Media outlets that are exploiting Ebola because they want a sensational story and politicians using it to their own ends ought to be ashamed. – Robert Reich
Government subsidies to elite private universities take the form of tax deductions for people who make charitable contributions to them. – Robert Reich
Even if there’s no way to stop U.S. corporations from shedding their U.S. identities and becoming foreign corporations, there’s no reason they should retain the privileges of U.S. citizenship. – Robert Reich
Bankruptcy laws allow companies to smoothly reorganize, but not college graduates burdened by student loans. – Robert Reich
I’m not one of those who thinks the only way to fix what’s wrong with American education is to throw more money at it. We also need to do it much better. – Robert Reich
Liberals are concerned about the concentration of wealth because it almost inevitably leads to a concentration of power that undermines democracy. – Robert Reich
Teachers, social workers, public lawyers who bring companies to justice, government accountants who try to make sure money is spent as it should be – all need at least four years of college. – Robert Reich
We already have an annual wealth tax on homes, the major asset of the middle class. It’s called the property tax. Why not a small annual tax on the value of stocks and bonds, the major assets of the wealthy? – Robert Reich
Freedom is the one value conservatives place above all others, yet time and again, their ideal of freedom ignores the growing imbalance of power in our society that’s eroding the freedoms of most people. – Robert Reich
Official boundaries are often hard to see. If you head north on Woodward Avenue, away from downtown Detroit, you wouldn’t know exactly when you left the city and crossed over into Oakland County – except for a small sign that tells you. – Robert Reich
I wish it were simply a nightmare, but I think that any reasonable person watching American politics would come to the conclusion that a second Bush administration would in fact incorporate a more radicalized version of what we’ve seen in the first administration. – Robert Reich
Community colleges are great bargains. They avoid the fancy amenities four-year liberal arts colleges need in order to lure the children of the middle class. – Robert Reich
Median wages of production workers, who comprise 80 percent of the workforce, haven’t risen in 30 years, adjusted for inflation. – Robert Reich
Public employees should have the right to bargain for better wages and working conditions, just like all employees do. – Robert Reich
As public schools deteriorate, the upper-middle class and wealthy send their kids to private ones. As public pools and playgrounds decay, the better-off buy memberships in private tennis and swimming clubs. As public hospitals decline, the well-off pay premium rates for private care. – Robert Reich
The silent majority really is a liberal majority, even though the word liberal has taken a real beating over the last 20 years by radical conservatives. – Robert Reich
Universities have to tame their budgets, especially for student amenities that have nothing to do with education. – Robert Reich
There will always be a business cycle, and white-collar workers will get hit in the next recession like they always do in recessions. – Robert Reich
Your most precious possession is not your financial assets. Your most precious possession is the people you have working there, and what they carry around in their heads, and their ability to work together. – Robert Reich
We do not want to live in a theocracy. We should maintain that barrier and government has no business telling someone what they ought to believe or how they should conduct their private lives. – Robert Reich
A society – any society – is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on. – Robert Reich
Too many young people graduate laden with debts that take years, if not decades, to pay off. – Robert Reich
Those at the top would do better with a smaller share of a booming economy that elicits a positive politics than they will do with an ever-larger share of an anemic economy that fuels the politics of anger. – Robert Reich
We don’t have to sit by and watch our meritocracy be replaced by a permanent aristocracy, and our democracy be undermined by dynastic wealth. – Robert Reich
America’s real business leaders understand unless or until the middle class regains its footing and its faith, capitalism remains vulnerable. – Robert Reich
Globalization and free trade do spur economic growth, and they lead to lower prices on many goods. – Robert Reich