Economies are supposed to serve human ends.. not the other way round. We forget at our peril that markets make a good servant, a bad master and a worse religion.
Interpretation
Economies should prioritize human needs rather than control them.
This quote emphasizes the role of economies in serving humanity, warning against letting markets dictate human priorities. It suggests that while markets can effectively facilitate human prosperity, relying on them too heavily can lead to negative consequences, acting as a dangerous driving force rather than a beneficial tool.
In practice
In a discussion about economic policy, this quote can remind policymakers to focus on human welfare.
Our energy future is choice, not fate. Oil dependence is a problem we need no longer have-and it's cheaper not to. U.S. oil dependence can be eliminated by proven and attractive technologies that create wealth, enhance choice, and strengthen common security.
Today we have a temporary aberration called "industrial capitalism" which is inadvertently liquidating its two most important sources of capital, the natural world and properly functioning societies._x000D_ _x000D_ No sensible capitalist would do that.
The consumer, so it is said, is the king each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done.
Markets are designed to allow individuals to look after their private needs and to pursue profit. It's really a great invention, and I wouldn't underestimate the value of that. But they're not designed to take care of social needs.
Nobody spends somebody else's money as carefully as he spends his own.
One way to measure the size of a company, industry, or economy is to determine its output. But a better way is to determine its added value - namely, the difference between the value of its outputs, that is, the goods and services it produces, and the costs of its inputs, such as the raw materials and energy it consumes.
Prosperity cannot be restored by raids upon the public Treasury.
One of the arguments I make for the failure of the euro is that, at the time it was being constructed, there was a 'neo-liberal' ideology which said that all we need to do to make this thing work is to get deficits low, keep inflation low, and take down barriers, and then everything would be fine.
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