Antonio Villaraigosa Quotes

Our economy grows from the middle out, not the top down.

You alleviate poverty by trickle-down economics.

Federal policies must understand the linkages between economic growth, social mobility, and a strong middle class.

A thriving middle class is the source of growth in a technological, capitalist economy. Investing in the middle class is the most pro-business thing you can do.

I don't mind the rich getting richer, but the poor shouldn't be getting poorer, and there should be more people moving into the middle class.

Are we interested in treating the symptoms of poverty and economic stagnation through income redistribution and class warfare, or do we want to go at the root causes of poverty and economic stagnation by promoting pro-growth policies that promote prosperity?

I will be a President for the middle class.

I think the defining issue of our time is: Does the economic, social, and political system work for the middle class?

You cannot have a strong, resilient economy unless you have a strong resilient middle class.

American economic greatness has never trickled down from the top.

I'm willing to do just about anything to try and contribute to getting us back on a growth path that is just and good for America.

We have a choice: we can allow the growing disparity between rich and poor to continue unimpeded, or we can take action to budget responsibly and strengthen and expand the middle class. If we want this economy - and this country - to meet its full potential, the choice is simple.

Working together, we will continue to lay the foundation for a new generation of inclusive economic growth, expand economic opportunity for middle-class families, and ensure that innovative businesses have the support they need to thrive and grow in the years to come.

Look at the growing middle class in India. Small businesses are not just a source of jobs and prosperity: they are the driving force of social justice too.

The benefits of growth have not trickled down. Income inequalities have become one of the biggest global challenges, attracting growing attention not only in academic literature but also among policymakers globally.

We became enthralled with the view that wealth trickled down from the top and that if you poured money into rich people, sort of like an ingredient, prosperity and jobs would squirt out of them like donuts. And if you understand economies in the 19th-century way, that view is plausible, and I think a lot of people accepted it.

Income inequity has to be addressed.

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we'll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.

But this convention is about more than re-nominating President Obama. It's about Americans coming together to build one economy - not from the top down, but from the middle class out and the bottom up.

No matter how wealthy a few plutocrats get, we can never drive a great national economy. Only a thriving middle class can do that.

Americans are falling out of the middle class, not into it. And they deserve relief. I absolute support extending the Bush tax cuts for those who work the hardest and invest the most in our economy - the real drivers of American growth, the middle class.

We are not going back to the failed policies of the past. We are fighting for the middle class!

Bush is giving the rich a tax cut instead of putting that cut in the pockets of working people.

Poverty is a solved problem - all they have to do is abolish taxes and regulations which cripple those intelligent, capable, and responsible men and women and destroy their productive capacity, then stand back and watch the economy boom.

It's not enough to have economic growth. You have to distribute wealth throughout all of society.