John Kenneth Galbraith Quotes

Socialism doesn't work. A big government doesn't work.

Monopoly controls have been the exception in free societies; they have been the rule in closed societies.

Capitalism is at least tolerable, which cannot be said of Socialism or Communism.

In a market economy, however, the individual has some possibility of escaping from the power of the state.

Capitalism and the market are presented as synonymous, but they are not. Capitalism is both the enemy of the market and democracy.

Neither Capitalism nor Socialism can pretend to be an ideology. They are merely methods for dividing ownership and income.

Capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism.

A basic contradiction between socialism and the market economy does not exist.

The issue is always the same: the government or the market. There is no third solution.

If you aren't talking to your kids about socialism, someone else is. So use car time, dinner time, tax preparation time, and time spent together at your work or small business to teach your child about the virtues of capitalism, the system of government that has lifted more people out of poverty.

Bear in mind that capitalism is a tiny period of human society. You never really had capitalism, you always had one or another variant of state capitalism.

The reason socialism has failed around the world every time it's been tried is because people in socialist countries have looked at the United States and have said if they can have it that good, we can. It's a failed, flawed ideology, but if you ask socialists why it's always failed, it's because the United States has stood in the way.

The independence of the economic sphere was a tenet of faith with Liberalism.

Dull would be the man who should merely tolerate this plan of social industry. Weak would be the position of him who should take an apologetic tone in defending it, or present its claims in a merely negative way, by exposing the evils and perils of the socialistic plan.

Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.

The great thing about capitalism is that it's a system that works.

From a systematic standpoint, I think that capitalism is the best system. I can spend a lot of time explaining why I like communism, but it is actually not a good solution. Nor is socialism. So, capitalism is the right model.

My fundamental tenets are concerned with freedom of the individual; the market isn't perfect, but it's the best available way of allocating resources.

No one should suffer from the great delusion that any form of communism or socialism which promotes the dictatorship of the few instead of the initiative of the millions can produce a happier or more prosperous society.

When the war [World War I] closed ... we were challenged with a peacetime choice between the American system of rugged individualism and a European philosophy of ... paternalism and State Socialism.

Liberty and monopoly cannot live together.

Individualism is to collectivism as capitalism is to socialism

I don't like the spirit of socialism – I think freedom is the basis of everything.

A market economy is to economics what democracy is to government: a decent, if flawed choice, about many bad alternatives

In 10 years, ... you're going to see the most valuable economy in the world -- the largest economy in the world -- is going to be a country run by communists. The Chinese seem to be very good at capitalism. And this is going to have fundamental problems and present an identity crisis for the United States. Because for a long time, free markets coincided with liberties such as free speech, free press, free religion. And all of a sudden, this equation is going to be decoupled. And when it gets decoupled, we might find that democracy, the multitude of voices, actually impedes capitalism because a state that does not have any pretense of limited government can very quickly mandate a regulatory framework for drones, for electric cars, for self-driving cars, for any new innovation where they feel that they can leapfrog Western societies. And this is a very unique thing in the American experience. And this is why it's very important to think of American capitalism as an operating system and not as an ideology. Because when you think about it as an ideology, you can have good politics make for very, very bad policy. That market outcomes and democratic voices and battles for votes can end up stifling progress.