Angela Merkel Quotes

vested interest

It is hard for the Chinese to understand that our policies are in great part the result of a number of random actions of different domestic pressure groups and not part of an overall plan.

The Congress is virtually incapable of passing any reforms unless they first get permission from the powerful special interests who are most affected by the proposal.

We pay a price when special interests win out over the collective national interest.

Any change is resisted because bureaucrats have a vested interest in the chaos in which they exist.

The efficiency label may frequently mask special benefits for special interests. The real questions should be more qualitative ones. Who will be affected? In what ways?

Lobbying, in large part, is conducted to prevent change from happening.

Priorities are set by legislators, regulators and industry interests. The consumer gets the left-overs.

Politics is about power, and it is about group power.

There are people and interests that do not want change. It is not in their interest for this system to change.

Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle.

Policy and politics are always mixed up.

Almost every special interest lobby was organized to prevent reform.

Everyone who lobbies represents someone’s particular point of view.

It is out of nature that any man should think it good that his own order should be repressed, curtailed, and deprived of its power. If we go among cab-drivers or letter-carriers, among butlers or gamekeepers, among tailors or butchers, among farmers or grazers, among doctors or attorneys, we shall find in each set of men a conviction that the welfare of the community depends upon the firmness with which they, — especially they, — hold their own.

In the United States, the two-party system of the old days is seemingly still preserved. But this is only a camouflage of the real situation. In fact, the political life of the United States ... is determined by the struggle and aspirations of pressure groups.

Not all special interest groups are bad.

In the absence of a crisis, the status quo in Washington is more or less set in cement, as advocacy groups and turf-conscious government officials are able to thwart change.

Special interests are interested in whatever's special to them.

Politicians pay more attention to interest groups than to the public interest.

I think maybe the people in elected positions are more interested in preserving their jobs than in doing the best job possible.

In practice, getting rid of crony capitalism is incredibly difficult.

It's very interesting how Washington works. It's not about speeches. It's about relationships.

The average citizen saw that the big PACs with the billionaires and the multimillionaires get what they want in Washington, but the average citizen is left behind.

One thing is perfectly clear: We don't need another China crony in the White House!