Freedom in economic arrangements is itself a component of freedom broadly understood, so economic freedom is an end in itself…. Economic freedom is also an indispensable means toward the achievement of political freedom.
Milton Friedman
Capitalism and Freedom (1962)
Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
John Maynard Keynes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936)
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have so much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Second Inaugural Address (1937)
Perhaps it is this specter that most haunts working men and women: the planned obsolescence of people that is of a piece with the planned obsolescence of they things they make. Or sell.
Studs (Louis) Terkel
Working (1972)
Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
Wise lessons for 2007… and beyond.