177 Quotes by Robert B. Reich

When the President decides to go to war, he no longer needs a declaration of war from congress.

Median wages of production workers, who comprise 80 percent of the workforce, haven’t risen in 30 years, adjusted for inflation.

I grew up poor. My mother raised a family of four on between $9,000 and $15,000 a year.

A smaller government reflecting the needs of the middle class and poor is superior to a big government reflecting the needs of the privileged and powerful.

Liberals are concerned about the concentration of wealth because it almost inevitably leads to a concentration of power that undermines democracy.

To be a skilled politician, you have to be genuine. To really make it work, you have to love people. You have to love the contact, you have to love the energy, you’ve gotta love inspiring people and getting their adulation in return. You can’t separate what’s genuine from what is necessary.

The problem is that the choice we make in the market don’t fully reflect our values as citizens. We might make different choices if we understood the social consequences of our purchases or investments and if we knew all other consumers and investors would join us in forbearing from certain great deals whose social consequence were abhorrent to us.

Public shaming can also carry a painful stigma. “Ignominy is universally acknowledged to be a worse punishment than death,” wrote Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who also sought to put an end to public stocks and whipping posts.

Inequality is bad for everyone, not just the middle class and the poor.