As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
Robert ReichRead
A lot of attention has been going to social values - abortion, gay rights, other divisive issues - but economic values are equally important.
Interpretation
Economic values are as crucial as social values in contemporary discussions.
In the quote, Robert Reich emphasizes that while various social issues such as abortion and gay rights dominate public discourse, it is vital to recognize that economic values also play a significant role in societal welfare and justice. He suggests a more balanced perspective that integrates both social and economic dimensions in discussions of societal progress and policy making.
In practice
In a debate about public policy, I referenced Robert Reich's quote to highlight the importance of considering economic factors.
As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.
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.
What someone is paid has little or no relationship to what their work is worth to society.
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.
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.
You can't inspire people if you are going to be uninspiring.
Definition, rationality, and structure are ways of seeing, but they become prisons when they blank out other ways of seeing.
Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.
People haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.
All day long he was docile, intelligent, good, Though sometimes changing to a darker mood. He seemed hypocritical, could tell better lies, in the dark he saw dots of colors behind closed eyes, clenched fists, put his tongue out at his elder brother.
Dying is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over... Death is not anything... death is not... It's the absence of presence, nothing more... the endless time of never coming back... a gap you can't see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes not sound.
All words, in every language, are metaphors.
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