America spends a fortune on drugs: more per person than any other nation on earth, even though Americans are no healthier than the citizens of other advanced nations. – Robert Reich
As long as the big banks are allowed to remain big, their political leverage over Washington will remain big. And as long as their political leverage remains big, the taxpayer and economic tab for the next mess they create will be big. – Robert Reich
Evidence suggests jobs are crucial not only to economic well-being but also to self-esteem. – Robert Reich
The monied interests are doing what they do best – making money. The rest of us need to do what we can do best – use our voices, our vigor, and our votes. – Robert Reich
As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever. – Robert Reich
Our young people – their capacities to think, understand, investigate, and innovate – are America’s future. – Robert Reich
Before the rise of the nation-state, between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, the world was mostly tribal. Tribes were united by language, religion, blood, and belief. They feared other tribes and often warred against them. – Robert Reich
The generosity of the super-rich is sometimes proffered as evidence they’re contributing as much to the nation’s well-being as they did decades ago when they paid a much larger share of their earnings in taxes. – Robert Reich
Patagonia, a large apparel manufacturer based in Ventura, California, has organized itself as a ‘B-corporation.’ That’s a for-profit company whose articles of incorporation require it to take into account the interests of workers, the community, and the environment, as well as shareholders. – Robert Reich
It is hard to bite the hands that feed you, especially when you are competing for food. – Robert Reich
In the 1980s, corporate raiders began mounting unfriendly takeovers of companies that could deliver higher returns to their shareholders – if they abandoned their other stakeholders. – Robert Reich
What are called ‘public schools’ in many of America’s wealthy communities aren’t really ‘public’ at all. In effect, they’re private schools, whose tuition is hidden away in the purchase price of upscale homes there, and in the corresponding property taxes. – Robert Reich
Money buys the most experienced teachers, less-crowded classrooms, high-quality teaching materials, and after-school programs. – Robert Reich
Walmart isn’t your average mom-and-pop operation. It’s the largest employer in America. As such, it’s the trendsetter for millions of other employers of low-wage workers. – Robert Reich
Some argue shareholder capitalism has proven more efficient. It has moved economic resources to where they’re most productive, and thereby enabled the economy to grow faster. – Robert Reich
One tax dodge often used by multi-national companies is to squirrel their earnings abroad in foreign subsidiaries located in countries where taxes are lower. – Robert Reich
Drug company payments to doctors are a small part of a much larger strategy by Big Pharma to clean our pockets. – Robert Reich
Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the rest of the Ivy League are worthy institutions, to be sure, but they’re not known for educating large numbers of poor young people. – Robert Reich
The only way to make sure no bank is too big to fail is to make sure no bank is too big. – Robert Reich
Average working people need more fresh starts. Big corporations, banks, and Donald Trump need fewer. – Robert Reich
Sugary drinks are blamed for increasing the rates of chronic disease and obesity in America. Yet efforts to reduce their consumption through taxes or other measures have gone nowhere. The beverage industry has spent millions defeating them. – Robert Reich
We need a national infrastructure bank to rebuild our crumbling highways and water and sewer systems, thereby putting additional people back to work. – Robert Reich
Much of what’s called ‘public’ is increasingly a private good paid for by users – ever-higher tolls on public highways and public bridges, higher tuitions at so-called public universities, higher admission fees at public parks and public museums. – Robert Reich
News and images move so easily across borders that attitudes and aspirations are no longer especially national. Cyber-weapons, no longer the exclusive province of national governments, can originate in a hacker’s garage. – Robert Reich
More people are killed by stray bullets every day in America than have been killed by Ebola here. More are dying because of poverty and hunger. – Robert Reich
Rather than subsidize ‘American’ exporters, it makes more sense to subsidize any global company – to the extent it’s adding to its exports from the United States. – Robert Reich
Instead of worrying about who’s American and who’s not, here’s a better idea: Create incentives for any global company to do what we’d like it to do in the United States. – Robert Reich