Government Debt Quotes

• To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Independence, Liberty, Libertarian

  Thomas Jefferson, Jean M. Yarbrough (1963). “The Essential Jefferson”, p.242, Hackett Publishing

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• We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Government Welfare, Historical, Liberty

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.26, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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  Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.

  Herbert Hoover

  Children, Blessed, Government

  Herbert Hoover (1938). “Addresses upon the American road”

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• The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure... It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Government, America

  Barack Obama's speech Against Raising The Debt Ceiling on the floor of the US Senate, www.redstate.com. March 16, 2006.

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• I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Believe, Army, Names

  Thomas Jefferson (1829). “Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies: From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson”, p.277

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• Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people.

  Wendell Phillips

  Government, Tyrants, People

  Wendell Phillips (1864). “Speeches, Lectures, and Letters”, p.421

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• As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit.

  George Washington

  Important, Credit, Cherish

  George Washington, John Jay, Jared Sparks (1850). “Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States of America”, p.36, New York : J. Wiley

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• It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wisdom, War, Political

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence and Papers, 1816-1826”, p.184, Cosimo, Inc.

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• The biggest debt is always the government debt; it's always debt that government has run up on your behalf.

  Margaret Atwood

  Running, Government, Debt

  Source: www.macleans.ca

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• I go on the principle that a public debt is a public curse and in a republican government more than in any other.

  James Madison

  Government, Principles, Debt

  Letter to Henry Lee, 13 Apr. 1790

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• The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Knives, Office, Growth

  Thomas Jefferson (1855). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence. Reports and opinions while secretary of state”, p.212

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• ..avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts, which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen, which we ourselves ought to bear.

  George Washington

  War, Owing A Debt, May

  George Washington, William Jackson (1838). “Monuments of Washington's Patriotism: Containing a Fac Simile of His Publick Accounts Kept During the Revolutionary War; and Some of the Most Interesting Documents Connected with His Military Command and Civil Administration; Embracing, Among Others, the Farewell Address to the People of the United States”, p.16

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• I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom.

  Thomas Jefferson

  People, Revolution, Rich

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.26, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• With all this consumer debt, business debt, government debt, smaller movements in interest rates have a magnified effect. a small movement can tip the boat.

  Bill Gross

  Government, Movement, Debt

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• A government debt is a government claim against personal income and private property - an unpaid tax bill.

  Hans F. Sennholz

  Liberty, Income, Libertarian

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• People who buy government debt deserve to be punished and taught a lesson

  Doug Casey

  Government, People, Taught

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• The great increase in longevity has produced a surge in the desire to accumulate assets for retirement. It has outpaced the ability of the private sector to produce assets, so we need a larger government debt.

  William Vickrey

  Retirement, Government, Desire

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• A dramatic unwinding of that relationship [between USA and China], by way of an aggressive trade policy, is one of the nightmare scenarios for the global economy as a whole, because it would result in a spiraling depreciation of the dollar, a surge in American interests rates, a collapse in the market for American government debt.

  Judy Woodruff

  Government, Usa, Dollars

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• This is a derivative, if you will, of Cloward-Piven [theory]. "[Stephen] Lerner's plan is to organize a mass, coordinated 'strike' on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments - thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Government, Debt, Derivatives

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• Right now, a majority of the debt is owed to foreign interests, Japan being the largest purchaser of government debt today, soon to be surpassed by China as the number one purchaser of our debt in this Nation.

  Ron Kind

  Government, Japan, Numbers

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• In the distance, I see a frightful storm brewing in the form of un-tethered government debt. I choose the words -“frightful storm' - deliberately to avoid hyperbole. Unless we take steps to deal with it, the long-term fiscal situation of the federal government will be unimaginably more devastating to our economic prosperity than the subprime debacle and the recent debauching of credit markets that we are working right now so hard to correct.

  Richard W. Fisher

  Distance, Government, Long

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