Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [401-420] of 1389 Government quotesGovernment QuotesGovernment Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes The Fed was largely responsible for converting what might have been a garden-variety recession, although perhaps a fairly severe one, into a major catastrophe. Instead of using its powers to offset the depression, it presided over a decline in the quantity of money by one-third from 1929 to 1933 ... Far from the depression being a failure of the free-enterprise system, it was a tragic failure of government.~ Milton Friedman The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power. But there is also a constructive reason. The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or in literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.~ Milton Friedman Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.~ Milton Friedman If, for example, existing government intervention is minor, we shall attach a smaller weight to the negative effect of additional government intervention. This is an important reason why many earlier liberals, like Henry Simons, writing at a time when government was small by today’s standards, were willing to have government undertake activities that today’s liberals would not accept now that government has become so overgrown.~ Milton Friedman If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.~ Milton Friedman If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That's literally true.~ Milton Friedman Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations.~ Milton Friedman The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.~ Milton Friedman The preservation of freedom is the protective reason for limiting and decentralizing governmental power. But there is also a constructive reason. The great advances of civilization, whether in architecture or painting, in science or in literature, in industry or agriculture, have never come from centralized government.~ Milton Friedman The most unresolved problem of the day is precisely the problem that concerned the founders of this nation: how to limit the scope and power of government. Tyranny, restrictions on human freedom, come primarily from governmental restrictions that we ourselves have set up.~ Milton Friedman If the only motive was to help people who could not afford education, advocates of government involvement would have simply proposed tuition subsidies.~ Milton Friedman One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.~ Milton Friedman The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy. ... Roosevelt's policies were very destructive. Roosevelt's policies made the depression longer and worse than it otherwise would have been.~ Milton Friedman The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. It forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.~ Milton Friedman [T]he burden of government is not measured by how much it taxes, but by how much it spends.~ Milton Friedman In all countries, in all centuries, the primary reason for government to set up schools is to undermine the politically weak by convincing their children that the leaders are good and their policies are wise. The core is religious intolerance. The sides simply change between the Atheists, Catholics, Protestants, Unitarians, etc., depending whether you are talking about the Soviet Union, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, America, etc. A common second reason is to prepare the boys to go to war and the girls to cheer them on.~ Marshall Fritz Charter schools are just public schools on a slightly longer leash. A dog on a long leash is still a dog on a leash.~ Marshall Fritz If you want a Big Brother, you get all that comes with it.~ Erich Fromm The citizen who criticizes his country is paying it an implied tribute.~ J. William Fulbright The United States was supposed to have a limited government because the founders knew government power attracts demagogues and despots as surely as horse manure attracts horseflies.~ Rick Gaber Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print