Robert Reich Quotes

Corporations are not people, despite what the Supreme Court says, and they don't need or deserve handouts.

Bill Clinton was a great politician. Bill Clinton loved a fight. He was willing to fight. But he also wanted to be loved. He wanted to be admired.

In journalism, there are only two stories - "Oh, the wonder of it," and "Oh, the shame of it."

I think that in politics, when people want to discredit a particular position, they say, "Oh, they are liberals," or "They are conservatives; we are centrists." Everybody wants to be a centrist.

Britain's is traditionally a rigid class society.

We reform the system. We save capitalism from its own excesses.

You've got to just follow the money [in Washington]. You see it. There's no countervailing power.

The presidency is probably the loneliest office in America. Regardless of your friends, regardless of how good your marriage is, regardless of anything, you are alone there at the top.

The rich would do better with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy then they're doing now with a large share of an economy that is barely growing at all.

We are paying teachers who are in charge of our human capital, arguably more important than our financial capital, a very tiny fraction of what Wall Streeters are paid.

If you ever want to get a sense of your own personal failure, look at yourself trying to get across a point that nobody is listening to and the situation gets worse and worse.

If you're going to be a great guide to what's great for consumers, and, indirectly, for investors, you've got to be very careful about who you contract with and what you're offering.

The Democratic Party is DEAD.

Humor itself is a great disinfectant. It enables people to listen.

Any bank that is too big to fail is too big. Period.

Well-trained and dedicated employees are the only sustainable source of competitive strength.

America's real business leaders understand unless or until the middle class regains its footing and its faith, capitalism remains vulnerable.

In a world where routine production is footloose...competitive advantage lies not in one-time breakthroughs but in continual improvements. Stable technologies get away.

We need to expand Social Security to prevent the looming retirement crisis, and we can do it simply by asking billionaires to pay their fair share.

If you want to be a change agent, you have to ready to fail.

Those who analogize the federal budget to a family's budget must know nothing about either.

In Washington, it's dog eat dog. In academia, it's exactly the opposite.

On the Republican playing field, Republicans always win.

It is impossible to fight bullies merely by saying they're going too far.

The problem right now is jobs. The problem right now is the economy and economic growth.

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

The path to success used to be up and through an organization. Now the path to success is increasingly through self-promotion.

Now, inventiveness and empathy, those qualities, if they're together in the same person, you've got an entrepreneurial genius. But they do tend to be slightly separate.

The fastest growing occupation in the private sector is security guards. The fastest growing occupation in the public sector is prison guards. (1992)

Not only do unemployment benefits help families who are hurting they also put money into their pockets that they'll then spend - and their spending will keep other Americans in jobs.

Medical costs are soaring because our health-care system is totally screwed up. Doctors and hospitals have every incentive to spend on unnecessary tests, drugs, and procedures.

Technology is changing so fast that knowledge about specifics can quickly become obsolete. That's why so much of what technicians learn is on the job.

The liberal ideal is that everyone should have fair access and fair opportunity. This is not equality of result. It's equality of opportunity. There's a fundamental difference.