Daniel Domenech Quotes

Early education is the type of issue politicians nod their heads at, and then when it comes time to make a tough decision, a financial trade-off, inevitably it's about the first item tossed from the table.

Colleges and universities divide families by income, providing access to the best schools for those with accumulated wealth. Low- or moderate-income families are relegated to the less prestigious schools where the resources for advancement are fewer than those provided at better financed schools.

There are many communities in the United States where the average family income is pitifully low. It is in those communities that we find the poorest educational facilities and the worst conditions of health. Why? It is not because they are satisfied to live as they do. It is because those communities have the lowest per capital wealth and income; therefore the lowest ability to pay taxes; and therefore inadequate functioning of local government.

The goal to strive for is a poor government but a rich people.

Inequality makes everyone unhappy, the poor most of all, and that is well within the remit of the state. More money gives less extra happiness the richer we get, yet we are addicted to earning and spending more every year.

The art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.

Politicians have a natural inclination to spend in general, even as they disagree fiercely about what, specifically, to spend on.

Congress members put their ideology ahead of your prosperity.

As long as the middle class … were convinced that they could make do and possibly prosper, the grudges they felt toward the wealthy were minimal. Sure, they felt a bit envious toward Mr. Megabucks in the gated community, but he was entitled to all his perks as long as the middle class felt OK. Those in the middle (i.e., by definition the majority) are not OK anymore. They feel themselves inexorably sliding down the slope of income inequality and are becoming increasingly angry at the people who assert that a quarter of a million dollars a year ($250,000) is not a lot of money. They are especially irked that some of the people who think this way are running the government.

The real question is “What can we do to improve the earnings of lower- and middle-income Americans?” That’s about increased education and skills training, and that may require higher government spending.

There is nothing more important for a government than getting its budget through.

President Bush listed his income as $822,000. You know what John Kerry calls someone who earns $822,000? Not even worth dating.

Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money - only for wanting to keep your own money.

The reason so many problems do not get solved in Washington is that solving those problems is not the No. 1 priority: Re-election is.

The wealthy have a responsibility to invest in addressing inequality. This is especially true when constraints on others are so great.

Today, half of the national income goes to the richest 10 percent. In 2007, the top 1 percent controlled 34.6 percent of the wealth—significantly more than the bottom 90 percent who control just 26.9 percent.

There's nothing like spending other peoples’ money

It is impossible, financially and politically, to lower expenditure to the level of our revenues in the calamitous times in which we live, and so, however painful and afflicting the idea may be, we must exist from day to day and simply await the outcome of events yet in the making …

The burning issue of our time is the growing inequality in income and wealth in our country.

Unlike 30 years ago, people now admire the wealth of the West and lament the poverty of China; they stare awestruck at the power of the Western armies and scorn the cowardice of the Imperial troops; they enjoy the fairness and ease of the Customs and detest the fault-finding of China’s own tax collectors; they praise the orderly governance of the Western-Administered cities, and resent the harassment of our officials, big and small.

Government schools lead to the indoctrination of children and interferes with the free choice of individuals. Government ownership, operation and subsidy of schools and colleges should be ended.

Wealth managers not only exploit gaps in legal systems but they also seek to influence legislation, especially in offshore tax havens, to the benefit of their clients. In doing so they preserve and even increase wealth inequality and help undermine the legitimacy of governments that tolerate their wealthy citizens’ evasion or avoidance of the financial responsibilities that every one else must meet—a form of shirking made much easier by modern communications technology.

There is the freedom from want, despair and psychological insecurity that would come from having income sufficient to provide the necessities of life. But there is also the freedom to choose not to work for a time in order to take care of family members, pursue a passion, acquire education or contribute to a worthwhile community project. There is the freedom to start a new business with an uncertain future, the freedom to say yes to a job that pays little but yields joy and satisfaction — and the freedom to say no to a job that pays too little or is demeaning and unpleasant. Why, they ask, should such freedoms be reserved only for the wealthy?

Surrounded by the evidence of their success, the wealthy come to believe that they are fundamentally better than other Americans and that working people deserve their declining fortunes. They trumpet meritocracy while ensuring that their children enjoy crushing advantages from birth. They have unprecedented access to politicians and use it to push policies that swell their wealth while defunding institutions, such as public education, that sustain opportunities for less-fortunate Americans.

The appropriate role of government is to provide the framework that allows capital to flow freely, in accord with the law of supply and demand. That is how jobs, businesses and wealth are created. The government would have no money to distribute or spend without the tax revenue generated from the jobs and businesses that are the fruit of our capitalist system.