Quotes About Costs

Frivolous lawsuits are booming in this county. The U.S. has more costs of litigation per person than any other industrialized nation in the world, and it is crippling our economy.

the world on all sides is bankrupt and that life is a business that does not cover the costs.

There are costs and risks to a program of action, but they are far less than the long range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

But he was sullen about it, with the predictable attitude of someone who has been right—at all costs. And, therefore, wonders if he was wrong.

Hospitals, like every other industry, have gotten more efficient by cutting costs, which means virtually no excess capacity—on a per capita basis the United States has far fewer hospital beds than a few decades ago. Indeed, during a routine influenza season, usage of respirators rises to nearly 100 percent; in a pandemic, most people who needed a mechanical respirator probably would not get one.

These costs include the time, effort, and money spent in the process of doing business—both those incurred by the buyer in addition to the actual price paid, and those incurred by the seller in making the sale.11

Transaction costs can arise before any business is done. Locating potential trading partners may be costly and time-consuming. Comparing alternative sellers and choosing among them takes effort by the buyer. The quality of the goods for sale is often not immediately apparent, and the buyer may have to go to some trouble to evaluate it. If it cannot be reliably checked, the buyer might be reluctant to purchase.

Transaction costs use up resources in ways that are unrelated to the actual value of the business to be done. In the extreme, transaction costs can cause markets to be dysfunctional.

A still more extreme market malfunction occurs if the costs of transacting are so high as to swamp any potential benefits from the deal. Transaction costs can thwart exchanges that would otherwise be worthwhile. Unemployment exists, for example, not simply because there are too few jobs, but also because transaction costs in the labor market prevent some employers and job seekers from connecting with each other. A new way of doing business that lowers transaction costs can benefit everyone.

However, lowering transaction costs is a task not only for entrepreneurs, but also for public policy. The government has the responsibility to establish and maintain an environment within which markets can work efficiently. (I will refer to this aspect of market design as formal or top-down.)

In other words, certain kinds of transaction costs have been lowered by the internet: the cost of acquiring information, the time, effort, and money needed to learn what is available where and at what price.

We never had it as rough as the kids have it today. Look at the price of a gallon of gas or a piece of real estate or a college education.

Obesity is a prison; in the US we spend more to treat type 2 diabetes each year than is spent on education.

Fast food may appear to be cheap food and, in the literal sense it often is, but that is because huge social and environmental costs are being excluded from the calculations.

Six Sigma is a quality program that, when all is said and done, improves your customers' experience, lowers your costs, and builds better leaders.

In 1961, before the container was in international use, ocean freight costs alone accounted for 12 percent of the value of U.S. exports and 10 percent of the value of U.S. imports.

Americans have been conditioned to respect newness, whatever it costs them.

The financial costs of family breakdown are incredibly high.

The problem with the American health-care system that it is not working for the American family.

It now costs more to amuse a child than it once did to educate his father.

Even though work stops, expenses run on.

It horrifies me how much it costs to put on shows now, mainly due to EU regulations. The freedom to be entrepreneurial is no longer there. It's a massive business now.

Why does the Air Force need expensive new bombers? Have the people we've been bombing over the years been complaining?

When the blood starts flying. I'll do business with the Devil himself. Victory at all costs is the only thing. You can discuss the moral ethics as we bury the enemy.