Richard Olney Quotes

The railroads saw that they must either accept control by the State of control the State.

The railways of the world, except in those countries where they have been held under the strict regulation and supervision of the government, have proved themselves arbitrary, extortionate and as opposed to free institutions and free commerce between states as were the feudal barons of the middle ages.

Regulations don't solve things. Supervision solves things. If we could figure out that the subprime thing was a train wreck that was coming, where were the regulators?

You can't, in a government agency, regulate everything that moves ... you can't regulate everything ... you must strike a balance.

It is absolutely essential that bank supervisory bodies have the enforcement tools, the independence, and the political support to take tough enforcement measures when they are needed. Everything else—more uniform accounting standards, improved disclosure, and risk-based supervision—will count for little if supervisors lack effective powers of enforcement and the will to use them.

Every business action of the individual is supervised and hedged about with red tape and paternal restrictions.

How much we all suffer from lack of oversight from the government.

If railway men are wise, they will not hinder it. Railroads are a public institution—an institution which must be regulated by law. You cannot run the railroads as you would run a private business. You must respond to the public demand.

I have been trying to understand the regulators.

I don't interfere with regulators.

In my view, it is unreasonable for EPA to exclude considerations of costs in determining whether it is 'appropriate' to impose significant new regulations on electric utilities.

I've always been a ... believer in good regulation.

There's nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad.

I'm increasingly inclined to think there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level just to make sure that we don't do something very foolish.

Candidly, I believe most corporations actually don't mind big government.

We're one of the most highly regulated industries, and we have to pay attention to what government is doing.

I've seen disgusting excess in business, and I've seen disgusting excess in Washington. But at the same time, I've certainly learned that Washington matters and that you can't ignore it, especially when you get into telecom.

Legislation must be passed which undoes the damage caused by excessive de-regulation. That means reinstalling the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down in 1999.

At its core, the FCC's plan to regulate the Internet will force businesses and people to check first with the government and get permission to innovate.

Governments, whether right or left, have become commissioners-in-chief, nudging and cajoling networks into preferred business models without the slightest sensitivity or awareness of what the public wants or the TV industry is capable of.

To say that only those businesses affected with a public interest may be regulated is but another way of stating that all those businesses which may be regulated are affected with a public interest.

When teachers try to teach, nurses try to nurse, small businesses try to serve their clients and the police try to arrest criminals, there is always a regulator or three breathing down their necks. Conservatives want to make people's lives easier.

Banking, I would argue, is the most heavily regulated industry in the world. Regulations don't solve things. Supervision solves things.

It's the FSA and its plethora of EU bodies that's failed.

I do not believe in government ownership of anything which can with propriety be left in private hands, and in particular I should most strenuously object to government ownership of railroads. In my judgment public ownership of railroads is highly undesirable and would probably in this country entail far-reaching disaster.