James A. Forbes Quotes

Are we a nation of guarantees or are we a nation of opportunities to achieve the American dream?

Mitt Romney subscribes to the cynical logic that says the American dream belongs to some of us but not all of us.

The association of poverty with progress is the enigma of our times.

As income inequality increases, social mobility falls.

Huge inequality gaps in a democratic society will tend to erode the respect for and security of doctrines of private property. The large majority must either own property or have reasonable prospects of attaining property if they are to support and maintain private property laws and traditions.

Listen, I have lived the American dream, which is something that I am deeply proud of and something that I believe every child in South Carolina or across the country should have the opportunity to do.

We want to rescue the American dream.

The truth is that I've always been fascinated with wealth in America. To me, it's been about the American dream and the corruption of that dream.

The American dream has now morphed into an expectation. And if it isn't provided, or if it doesn't happen, then people feel cheated.

Increasingly, staying in the middle class - let alone aspiring to become middle class - is becoming a game of chance.

Democrats believe in reigniting the American dream by removing barriers to success and building ladders of opportunity for all, so everyone can succeed.

Most of the time in America, we're surrounded by oppressive inequality such that the wealthiest 1 percent collectively own substantially more than the bottom 90 percent. One escape from that is America's wild places.

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.

I worry about growing income inequality. But I worry even more that the discussion is too narrowly focused. I worry that our outrage at the top 1 percent is distracting us from the problem that we should really care about: how to create opportunities and ensure a reasonable standard of living for the bottom 20 percent.

We've only been wealthy in this country for 70 years. Who said we ought to have all this? Is it ordained?

There are a lot of Americans who do not realize that their financial comfort is a consequence of conditions and programs in this country that made it possible for them to be wealthy.

Ninety percent of the racial debate is really about economics.

The American dream is not dead. It is gasping for breath, but it is not dead.

Preventing poverty beats curing it.

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

Like Venice’s oligarchs, America’s super-rich are destroying the social mobility that creates wealth.

The Great Gatsby Curve

This country is very good at creating wealth, but not very good at distributing it.

When our forbears - yours and mine - came to America, they came because this country promised them something. It promised them an opportunity, nourished by education, not merely to grind for a bare living, but to strive for a good life.

I grew up with a front row seat to the American dream.