It is not true that Congress spends money like a drunken sailor. Drunken sailors spend their own money. Congress spends our money.
Arthur LafferRead
And you can't have a prosperous economy when the government is way overspending, raising tax rates, printing too much money, over regulating and restricting free trade. It just can't be done.
Interpretation
What this quote means
An economy cannot thrive if the government excessively spends, taxes, prints money, regulates, and restricts trade.
Arthur Laffer highlights the importance of government fiscal responsibility and minimal interference in the market for a prosperous economy. He argues that excessive government spending, high tax rates, monetary overreach, and stringent regulations hinder economic growth, suggesting that a thriving economy relies on more freedom and less government control.
Themes
EconomyGovernmentOverspendingTaxationRegulationFree Trade
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a public debate on government fiscal policies.
More from Arthur Laffer
All quotes →Similar quotes
The market economy-capitalism-is a social system of consumers' supremacy.
Ludwig Von MisesRead
The modern corporation must manufacture not only goods but the desire for the goods it manufactures.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
Stopping illegal immigration would mean that wages would have to rise to a level where Americans would want the jobs currently taken by illegal aliens.
Thomas SowellRead
If you're totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization never come to you.
Jimmy CarterRead
Large fortunes are all founded either on the occupation of land, or lending or the taxation of labor.
John RuskinRead
You know, I think of the global economy as an inverted triangle, resting on the shoulders of the American consumer. And if the American consumer cannot have enough disposable income in order to maintain a standard of living that creates more opportunities generation after generation, that's bad for everybody.
Hillary ClintonRead