Dick Durbin Quotes

Privatization of assets that most of us consider public goods - like airports and highways - has a long, often-uncontroversial history.

As we seek to improve the management of the federal government, we should keep in mind that the government is not a private corporation. What may make sense for a large corporation may not always make sense for the federal government. In our quest for efficiency, we must not lose sight of the reasons why we enacted certain federal programs in the first place.

It is our job, as members of parliament, to legislate with an eye to the long term future, to look over the horizon beyond the next election and ensure that as far as we can what we do today will make Australia a better place, a safer place, for future generations to live in.

I'm doing my part, building plants at a record rate, having historic conservation levels. The only people not doing their part is the federal government that is siding with the energy companies against the interests of the people of California.

I want to rid the country of corruption and return our economic environment.

A nascent economy needs a transparent and accountable government and an efficient civil service to help meet social needs. Its people need jobs and a belief in their country's future. A surfeit of aid has been shown to be unable to help achieve these goals.

I'm interested in the idea that we have a more inclusive, clearer set of objectives. I would want us to have a set of objectives which does include public ownership of some necessary things such as rail.

Democracies are expense-averse and they think in terms of short-term, political interests rather than a long-term interest in stability.

Real government is about looking beyond the vested to the national interest, setting up the necessary conditions to enable the next, more enabled and more empowered generation to achieve a country as prosperous, a people as content, as ours deserve to be.

We are shrinking the size of the federal government as a percent of our economy from over 21 percent of the economy to 19 percent of the economy. At the same time, we're growing the private economy.

And we did it because it's time for City Hall to stop looking out for City Hall and start looking out for the people like you and me who are footing the bill.

To those who say Britain cannot afford to invest in infrastructure, I say we cannot afford not to invest in our future.

One bipartisan policy tradition is to deny Americans the use of our own resources.

If you're going to use the public resources, you need the public benefit.

One of the things the government can't do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.

I think private ownership is generally superior to public because you care about the land more and it doesn't get trashed.

The state of our state needs serious attention.

Like many countries, Indonesia can transform its decision-making system to be more transparent and inclusive, particularly on resource allocation and use.

Canada was built from its very beginnings on the belief that public leadership in the economy and on social issues would be as effective and cheap as anything done by the private sector.

Sustainability is a very tough thing in our government because there are so many different competing priorities.

The country needs a gas tax.... That's good for the country.... What's good for the country is good for Chrysler.

With Government funding comes regulation.

It is hardly lack of due process for the Government to regulate that which it subsidizes.

Regulators, who could in principle consider both economic growth and larger social needs, do not receive the necessary political mandates from short sighted voters who want low taxes and cheap prices.

As a government watchdog, I'm always looking for ways to make government smaller, more efficient, and fairer.