Ronald Reagan Quotes About Economy

• Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem. ... Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it. ... The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.

  Ronald Reagan

  Moving, Government, Views

• Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

  Ronald Reagan

  Freedom, Military, Moving

  Remarks to state chairs of National White House Conference on Small Business, 15 Aug. 1986

• Governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people.

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, People, Presidential

  A Time for Choosing (aka "The Speech"), Air date 27 October 1964, Los Angeles, CA

• I can't help but believe that in the future we will see in the United States and throughout the Western world an increasing trend toward the next logical step, employee ownership. It is a path that befits a free people.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Believe, People

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal. It was Mussolini's success in Italy, with his government-directed economy, that led the early New Dealers to say "But Mussolini keeps the trains running on time.

  Ronald Reagan

  Running, Government, Economy

  Ronald Reagan, Mark J. Green, Gail MacColl (1983). “There he goes again: Ronald Reagan's reign of error”, Pantheon

• In 1992, the federal Government actually issued more work authorizations to immigrants and temporary foreign workers than the net number of new jobs created by our economy. Something is fundamentally wrong when we have millions of American citizens and legal residents begging for jobs, and yet we are admitting thousands and thousands of immigrants a year with virtually no consideration to our employment needs or their employment skills.

  Ronald Reagan

  Jobs, Government, Years

• We don't need more politicians insisting we have deficits because you're not taxed enough. Those deficits ballooned from an economy that didn't grow enough and from 50 years of government spending too much.

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, Years, Too Much

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• This is not to say that the government should confiscate from the "haves" and bestow upon the "have-nots", beyond the requirements of a compassionate welfare program to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. Far from it. But it is to say that our duty is to foster a strong, vibrant wealth-producing economy which operates in such a way that new additions to wealth accrue to those who presently have little or no ownership stake in their country.

  Ronald Reagan

  Country, Strong, Government

• Yes, deficits are a problem. I've been saying so for more than a quarter of a century now. But the problem is not the size of the deficit, it's the size of government's claim on our economy.

  Ronald Reagan

  Government, Size, Problem

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1984). “Ronald Reagan”

• We now know that inflation results from all that deficit spending.

  Ronald Reagan

  Economy, Results, Spending

• The people of Central America - and, in a broader sense, the entire developing world - need to know first-hand that freedom and opportunity are not just for the elite, but the birthright of every citizen; that property is not just something enjoyed by a few, but can be owned by any individual who works hard and makes correct decisions.

  Ronald Reagan

  Hard Work, Opportunity, Hands

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• Today it is difficult to find leaders who are independent of the forces that have brought us our problems: The Congress, the bureaucracy, the lobbyists, big business, and big labor.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Independent, Leader

• A strong American economy is essential to the well-being and security of our friends and allies.

  Ronald Reagan

  Strong, Allies, Essentials

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan)., Ronald Reagan, United States. Office of the Federal Register (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• In this new world economy, national boundaries are increasingly becoming obsolete.

  Ronald Reagan

  Historical, Becoming, World

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1990). “Ronald Reagan”

• Revenues should be increased not by increasing the tax rates on the individual but by building a bigger economy for everybody.

  Ronald Reagan

  Building, Economy, Individual

• A drastic reduction in the deficit...will take place in the fiscal year '82.

  Ronald Reagan

  Years, Economy, Reduction

• I've long believed one of the mainsprings of our own liberty has been the widespread ownership of property among our people and the expectation that anyone's child, even from the humblest of families, could grow up to own a business or corporation.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Children, Growing Up

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), Ronald Reagan (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• Meanwhile, what about the workers in those state monopolies that are being put up for sale? I am reminded of a technique for employee ownership that has worked well for many U.S. companies. It goes by various names, but the best known is "Employee Stock Ownership Program," or ESOP.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Names, Technique

• Our economic assistance must be carefully targeted, and must make maximum use of the energy and efforts of the private sector... Economic freedom is the world's mightiest engine for abundance and social justice... Developing countries need to be encouraged to experiment with a growing variety of arrangements for profit sharing and expanded capital ownership.

  Ronald Reagan

  Country, Wisdom, Justice

  United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan), United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan)., Ronald Reagan, United States. Office of the Federal Register (1982). “Ronald Reagan”

• Our Founding Fathers well understood that concentrated power is the enemy of liberty and the rights of man. They knew that the American experiment in individual liberty, free enterprise and republican self-government could succeed only if power were widely distributed. And since in any society social and political power flow from economic power, they saw that wealth and property would have to be widely distributed among the people of the country. The truth of this insight is immediately apparent.

  Ronald Reagan

  Country, Wisdom, Father

• Could there be anything resembling a free enterprise economy, if wealth and property were concentrated in the hands of a few, while the great majority owned little more than the shirts on their backs?

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Hands, Majority

• Some years ago a top Ford official was showing the late Walter Reuther through the very automates plant in Cleveland, Ohio and he said to him jokingly, "Walter, you'll have a hard time collecting union dues from these machines." and Walter said, "you are going to have more trouble trying to sell automobiles to them." Both of them let it stop there. There was a logical answer to that ... the owners of the machines could buy automobiles and if you increase the number of owners you increase the number of consumers.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Hard Times, Numbers

• Could there be anything but widespread misery, where a privileged few controlled a nation's wealth, while millions labored for a pittance, and millions more were desperate for want of employment?

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Employment, Politics

• Over hundred years ago Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. There was wide distribution of land and they didn't confiscate anyone's privately owned land... We need an industrial Homestead Act.

  Ronald Reagan

  Wisdom, Years, Land

• It should be clear to everyone that the nation's steadfast policy should afford every American of working age a realistic opportunity to acquire the ownership and control of some meaningful form of property in a growing national economy.

  Ronald Reagan

  Meaningful, Wisdom, Opportunity

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