If the Tenth Amendment were still taken seriously, most of the federal government's present activities would not exist. That's why no one in Washington ever mentions it.
Thomas WoodsRead
Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Government often shifts responsibility for its shortcomings to the private sector while claiming credit for its accomplishments.
In this quote, Thomas Woods critiques the tendency of government entities to deflect blame onto businesses and private organizations when things go wrong, yet they readily take credit for positive developments that are primarily driven by the innovation and efficiency found in the private sector. This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the roles and interactions between public and private institutions in a functioning economy.
Themes
GovernmentPrivate SectorBlameCreditEconomy
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate, I might reference this quote to illustrate how government policies impact economic growth.
More from Thomas Woods
All quotes βOne of the market's virtues, and the reason it enables so much peaceful interaction and cooperation among such a great variety of peoples, is that it demands of its participants only that they observe a relatively few basic principles, among them honesty, the sanctity of contracts, and respect for private property.
Thomas WoodsRead
Similar quotes
I think the Democrats are going to have to be willing to give up, maybe, some short-term political gain by whipping up fears on some of these things - if it's a reasonable Social Security proposal, a reasonable Medicare proposal. We've got to deal with these things. You cannot have health care devour the economy.
William J. ClintonRead
I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.
Margaret ThatcherRead
Until politics are a branch of science, we shall do well to regard political and social reforms as experiments rather than short-cuts to the millennium.
John B. S. HaldaneRead
The working classes in every country only learn to fight in the course of their struggles...Social democracy...is only the advance guard of the proletariat, a small piece of the total working masses; blood from their blood, and flesh from their flesh. Social democracy seeks and finds the ways, and particular slogans, of the workers' struggle only in the course of the development of this struggle, and gains directions for the way forward through this struggle alone.
Rosa LuxemburgRead
Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth.
Paul KrugmanRead
The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge.
Tony BlairRead