Angela Rayner Quotes

Economic chasm between people is something that is of interest to me. And something that I used to write about even as a child. It's something I've revisited a few times in my writings.

People tend to think that life really does progress for everyone eventually, that people progress, but actually only some people progress. The rest of the people don't.

An elite has prospered with our kinds of institutions, but the same cannot be said of the masses.

Inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity, and expanding equality of opportunity only increases it—because some individuals and communities are simply better able than others to exploit the opportunities for development and advancement that capitalism affords.

I'm not interested in defending the position of those who already have money, power and privilege.

The laws are stacked for the wealthy.

What family you were born into matters so much more than it did before in a perverse way.

Income inequality is troubling because, among other things, it means that many people in our society don't have the opportunities to advance themselves.

The perennial conviction that those who work hard and play by the rules will be rewarded with a more comfortable present and a stronger future for their children faces assault from just about every direction. That great enemy of democratic capitalism, economic inequality, is real and growing.

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

To be clear, the gap between the have gots and the have nots is widening. In this most multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic America ever, that concerns me.

Because TED is for, and by, unbelievably rich people, they tiptoe around questions of the justness of a society that rewards TED attendees so much for what usually amounts to a series of lucky breaks.

George W. Bush has helped those who have most, hurt those who have least and ignored everyone in between.

The prime culprit in causing contemporary social inequality seems to be merit.

As long as we look to legislation to cure poverty or to abolish special privilege we are going to see poverty spread and special privilege grow.

The world has grown rich and refined, but chiefly by the efforts of those who themselves continue poor and ignorant.

The idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the rich.

The gap between aspiration and reality could hardly be wider. Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country. Study after study has exposed the myth that America is a land of opportunity. This is especially tragic: While Americans may differ on the desirability of equality of outcomes, there is near-universal consensus that inequality of opportunity is indefensible.

Inequality is bad for everyone, not just the middle class and the poor.

The greatest issue before the people—the question of special privilege and unequal distribution of wealth.

We live in a system that espouses merit, equality, and a level playing field, but exalts those with wealth, power, and celebrity, however gained.

I do think that there is both a very powerful sense of entitlement and a kind of bubble of wealth which makes it hard for the people at the very top to understand the travails of the middle class.

One thing that is clearly not maximized by free markets is equality. I am talking not about that pale substitute for equality known as equality of opportunity but about equality itself.

Just because I get to coast around in a nice, cushy little bubble, that's not how it is for everybody.

The reality is, if you were fortunate to be born to rich parents, you have a better chance of succeeding in life. And that's wrong.