177 Quotes by Robert B. Reich

Government doesn’t “intrude” on the “free market.” It creates the market. The rules are neither neutral nor universal, and they are not permanent. Different societies at different times have adopted different versions. The rules partly mirror a society’s evolving norms and values but also reflect who in society has the most power to make or influence them.

Social change occurs when the gap between the ideals that people hold and the reality that they see every day gets too large.

Our core identity – the most precious legacy we have been given by the generations who came before us – is the ideals we share, the good we hold in common. If we are losing our national identity, it is not because we are becoming browner or speak in more languages than we once did. It is because we are losing our sense of the common good.

Both Madison and Thomas Jefferson were influenced by the eighteenth-century French Enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu, who defined a “republic” as a self-regulating political society whose mainspring was civic virtue.

Socialism for rich bankers and capitalism for everyone else.

Carl Friedrich captured the distinction in 1935: “To be an American is an ideal, while to be a Frenchman is a fact.

I’m 40 years old. What I have seen my whole life is widening income inequality.

Globalization and free trade do spur economic growth, and they lead to lower prices on many goods.

Rather than come together for the common good, we come together to get the best possible deal. We’re clustering by income – attracting members who can contribute the most while excluding those who are more costly.