Quotes About Policy

The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution.

This civilization was able to spring into existence because the peoples were dominated by ideas which were the application of the teachings of economics to the problems of economic policy. It will and must perish if the nations continue to pursue the course which they entered upon under the spell of doctrines rejecting economic thinking.

But when States did debase the coinage, it was always from purely fiscal motives. The government needed financial help, that was all; it was not concerned with questions of currency policy.

Inflation made it possible to divert the fury of the people to 'speculators' and 'profiteers'. Thus it proved itself an excellent psychological resource of the destructive and annihilist war policy.

The people of the United States are more prosperous than the inhabitants of all other countries because their government embarked later than the governments in other parts of the world upon the policy of obstructing business.

Inflationism is that monetary policy that seeks to increase the quantity of money.

Naive inflationism demands an increase in the quantity of money without suspecting that this will diminish the purchasing power of the money.

The collapse of an inflation policy carried to its extreme -- as in the United States in 1781 and in France in 1796 -- does not destroy the monetary system, but only the credit money or fiat money of the State that has overestimated the effectiveness of its own policy. The collapse emancipates commerce from etatism and establishes metallic money again.

Restrictionistic ideas have never met with any measure of popular sympathy except after a time of monetary depreciation when it has been necessary to decide what should take the place of the abandoned inflationary policy.

Etatism, as a theory, is the doctrine of the omnipotence of the State, and, as a policy, the attempt to regulate all mundane affairs by authoritative commandment and prohibition. The ideal society of etatism is a particular sort of socialistic community; it is usual in discussions involving this ideal society to speak of State Socialism, or, in some connexions, of Christian Socialism.

Every step which leads from capitalism toward planning is necessarily a step nearer to absolutism and dictatorship.

As a rule, capitalism is blamed for the undesired effects of a policy directed at its elimination. The man who sips his morning coffee does not say, "Capitalism has brought this beverage to my breakfast table." But when he reads in the papers that the government of Brazil has ordered part of the coffee crop destroyed, he does not say, "That is government for you"; he exclaims, "That is capitalism for you.

Your religion should help you make the decision if you find yourself in that situation. But the policy should exist for you to have the right to make it in the first place. When you say you can't do something because your religion forbids it, that's a good thing. When you say I can't do something because your religion forbids it, that's a problem.

A REMARKABLE INSTANCE ON THE PUBLIC SCALE OF THE REAL-LIFE IMPLEMENTATION OF XAVIER CONROY'S DICTUM ABOUT THE PERFECTLY DEFENDED MAN Following Paraguay's declaration of independence from Spain Dr. Francia, the dictator known as "El Supremo," adopted a simple foreign policy: no one was permitted to enter or leave the country and trade was absolutely forbidden.

un hombre, por política, puede clamar contra el pecado; pero no puede aborrecerlo sino en virtud de una piadosa antipatía contra él. He oído a muchos clamar contra el pecado, en el púlpito, que sin embargo lo siguen albergando en el corazón, en su casa y en su conversación.

People in a mass-information society are strangely susceptible. They believe what they read in the papers and then believe that what they have read is their own conclusions. In this manner public support can be generated (at least for a while) in favor of administration policies that are palpably wrong. The 1991 attack on Iraq by Bush the elder's administration is a case in point.

If the government could tax broken hearts, there would be no deficit.

This program would clearly allow for the forgiveness of loans,

Yes, I support the death penalty. It is an issue that cannot be fudged or hedged.

I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us.

Where health care has failed is in designing a cost containment mechanism that works.

The legislator should keep two things constantly before his eyes: 1. The pure theory developed to its minutest details; 2. The particular condition of actual things which he designs to reform.

A massive campaign must be launched to de-develop the United States… [we] must design a stable, low-consumption economy.

Every nation sincerely desires peace; and all nations pursue courses which if persisted in, must make peace impossible.