As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
Robert ReichRead
The dirty little secret is that both houses of Congress are irrelevant. ... America's domestic policy is now being run by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve, and America's foreign policy is now being run by the International Monetary Fund [IMF]. ...when the president decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from Congress.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that Congress has become less significant in shaping American domestic and foreign policy.
Robert Reich argues that in contemporary America, true power in shaping policies lies not with Congress but with financial institutions like the Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund. This shift suggests a move away from traditional democratic processes, where Congress had a more decisive role, indicating a concerning trend toward executive power and influence from financial entities in both domestic governance and foreign relations.
Themes
CongressPolicyGovernmentPowerFinance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the effectiveness of modern democracy, this quote illustrates the diminishing role of elected representatives.
More from Robert Reich
All quotes →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 ReichRead
What someone is paid has little or no relationship to what their work is worth to society.
Robert ReichRead
Tax laws favor capital over labor, giving capital gains a lower rate than ordinary income. The rich get humongous mortgage interest deductions while renters get no deduction at all.
Robert ReichRead
You can't inspire people if you are going to be uninspiring.
Robert ReichRead
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 ReichRead
Similar quotes
(A Foreign Secretary) is forever poised between the cliche and the indiscretion.
Harold MacmillanRead
The public affairs of the union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are extremely diversified by the local affairs connected with them, and can with difficulty be learnt in any other place, than in the central councils, to which a knowledge of them will be brought by the representatives of every part of the empire. Yet some knowledge of the affairs, and even of the laws of all the states, ought to be possessed by the members from each of the states.
James MadisonRead
Sanctions did indeed help to bring Iran to the negotiating table. But sanctions did not stop the advance of Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations have done that, and it is in our interest not to deny ourselves the chance to achieve a long-term, comprehensive solution that would deny Iran a nuclear weapon.
Samantha PowerRead
We see more and more of our Presidents and know less and less about what they do.
Bill MoyersRead
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best
Otto Von BismarckRead