Dudley North Quotes
Moneys imployed at Interest in this Nation, are not near the Tenth part, disposed to Trading People, wherewith to manage their Trades; but are for the most part lent for the supplying of Luxury, and to support the Expence of Persons, who though great Owners of Lands, yet spend faster than their Lands bring in; and being loath to sell, choose rather to mortgage their Estates.
Dudley North, 1641-1691, English Economist, Discourses Upon Trade, 1691
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
See Daniel Webster for an earlier expression of this notion.
North was none-the-less in favor of allowing interest rates be much higher, but was stating the best argument, believed at the time by most English experts, and many American economists today.
Sir Dudley North was an English merchant, politician and economist, a writer on free trade.