25 Quotes by Alice Rivlin

If simple, painless solutions to public problems existed, they would have been found long ago.

Politicians pay more attention to interest groups than to the public interest.

Cynics about government find much to be cynical about.

The 'American dream' ... means an economy in which people who work hard can get ahead and each new generation lives better than the last one. The 'American dream' also means a democratic political system in which most people feel they can affect public decisions and elect officials who will speak for them. In recent years, the dream has been fading.

The federal budget deficit is the biggest single impediment to revitalizing the American economy.

most economists, like doctors, are reluctant to make predictions, and those who make them are seldom accurate. The economy, like the human body, is a highly complex system whose workings are not thoroughly understood.

The real need is not for more hospital beds. It's for more primary care and keeping people out of hospital beds and emergency rooms.

The situation now is really very different from the 1980s.

The most nervous-making point at the moment is Brazil, ... The international economy rallied around Brazil and hopes very much the Brazilians will be able to fulfill their part of the bargain with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and keep their economy from going under.