QuoteProject
Unlimited economic growth has the marvelous quality of stilling discontent while maintaining privilege, a fact that has not gone unnoticed among liberal economists.
Noam Chomsky
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Chomsky suggests that perpetual economic growth can distract from societal inequalities and privileges.

In this quote, Noam Chomsky critically assesses the notion of unlimited economic growth, pointing out that it serves to placate dissatisfaction among the populace while simultaneously upholding the privileges of the few. This phenomenon occurs when the promise of growth overshadows underlying issues of inequality, highlighting a tension in liberal economic thought that is often overlooked.

Themes

Economic GrowthPrivilegeDiscontentInequalityLiberal Economics

In practice

Example use cases

During an economic summit, this quote can be used to critique policies that favor growth over equity.

More from Noam Chomsky

There is no plausible theory under which the record of the Pentagon Papers can be interpreted as relating to the national defense.
Noam ChomskyRead
The 'free-floating intellectual' may occupy himself with problems because of their inherent interest and importance, perhaps to little effect.
Noam ChomskyRead
If you're teaching today what you were teaching five years ago, either the field is dead or you are.
Noam ChomskyRead
There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, 'That person I see is a savage monster;' instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.
Noam ChomskyRead
The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a traditional political party anymore.
Noam ChomskyRead
There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information - the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.
Noam ChomskyRead

Similar quotes

We need to keep in mind the well-established fact that the full effects of monetary policy are felt only after long lags. This means that policy makers cannot wait until they have achieved their objectives to begin adjusting policy.
Janet YellenRead
No country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order.
Franklin D. RooseveltRead
If a tax cut increases government revenues, you haven't cut taxes enough.
Milton FriedmanRead
In Europe and the United States the two decades following the Second World War will for long be remembered as a very good time, the time when capitalism really worked. Everywhere in the industrialized countries production increased. Unemployment was everywhere low. Prices were nearly stable. When production lagged and unemployment rose, governments intervened to take up the slack, as Keynes had urged.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
The economic expansion that began in 2001, while it has been great for corporate profits, has yet to produce any significant gains for ordinary working Americans. And now it looks as if it never will.
Paul KrugmanRead
You have to remember: what are incomes to banks are outgoes to families.
Elizabeth WarrenRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.