Frances O'Grady Quotes

It seems to me that the Conservatives neither recognise the scale of the living standards crisis facing British families nor offer credible answers as to how the British economy or British society can be better in the future.

The deficit crisis is real and must be addressed. But it cannot be solved on the backs of the weak and vulnerable.

The idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hardworking middle class taxpayers - that's an old idea that's failed every time it's been tried.

I think most people... would be glad to pay the same taxes they paid when Bill Clinton was president, if only they could have the same economy they had when Bill Clinton was president.

Redistribution of wealth would require enormous amounts of investment. The only time an elite has accepted this has been during crises, such as in America in the 1930s under Roosevelt.

Increased revenues, meaning higher taxes, will be a central element of any successful long-term budget plan, and President Obama is right to insist that the wealthy - the slice of America that has come through the recession in by far the best financial health - should provide those funds.

But if the choice is a cool president and 8 or 10 percent unemployment in a declining economy and a country that seems to be going in the wrong direction and structural unemployment for young people at 50 percent, I'd rather have a dorky president who fixed those problems.

Western–style redistributive programs-progressive taxation, social security, unemployment insurance-should be encouraged, but at least in the short run, they have limited potential. There simply is not enough to tax, and nearly no one can be trusted to transfer revenues.

To reduce inequality, employment must be sustained by appropriate macroeconomic policy.

People at the top spend less money than those at the bottom, so when you have redistribution toward the top, aggregate demand goes down. Unless you intervene, you're going to have a weak economy unless something else happens.

Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders want to raise taxes on the rich, saying it will solve inequality. It won't. All that will do is significantly reduce incentives to work, save, and invest. But I say inequality is not the problem. The problem is a lack of growth.

With neoliberalism discredited and austerity failed, we need to rewrite the rules of the economy once again. But this time in the right way. We need rules that focus on long-term economic growth, and the only kind of sustainable prosperity is shared prosperity.

JFK and Reagan's growth model included tax cuts and a steady dollar. Trump has taken a gigantic step toward restoring prosperity with his tax-cut-centered fiscal policy.

If we are to depression-proof our economy we may need to pay more attention to the radical ideas and policies of those who witnessed the misery inflicted on so many during the 1930s.

We can't just cut our way to prosperity. Even as we look for ways to reduce deficits over the long term, we must grow the economy in a way that strengthens the middle class and everyone willing to work hard to get into it.

Trickle-down economics does not work, and tax reform should not be defined as partisan tax cuts for the wealthy and huge corporations.

Economic policy that adheres to the tenets of orthodoxy while failing to deliver for large sections of society is doomed to fail.

If there are not jobs or adequate forms of social protection, there is not enough income to create the consumption base that drives demand and sustainable economic growth.

You alleviate poverty by trickle-down economics.

If you stimulate the economy by means of a tax cut, the people that you tend to be benefiting are the better off.

To build more human economies in Africa, governments must be far more strategic, wise, and forward-looking in their expenditure and build diverse economies that are going to deliver the jobs for the next generation.

Chronic insecurity will not be overcome by minimum wage laws, tax credits, means-tested benefits, or workfare.

America should do more to fix the still-festering housing crisis and overhaul its training schemes so that high joblessness does not become entrenched. Hunkering down for austerity is not enough. The rich world needs a strategy for growth.

Every American has a right to food, housing, and health care - and we can afford to provide it if billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.

If you think the dominant orthodoxy - shrink your economy, render workers jobless, impoverish families, and still grow - is an oxymoron... then you would be right.