A biography for Robert Reichhasn’t been written yet.
“Standing up to bullies is the hallmark of a civilized society.”
“As public schools deteriorate, the upper-middle class and wealthy send their kids to private ones. As public pools and playgrounds decay, the better-off buy memberships in private tennis and swimming clubs. As public hospitals decline, the well-off pay premium rates for private care.”
“As we segregate by income into different communities, schools in lower-income areas have fewer resources than ever.”
“America spends a fortune on drugs: more per person than any other nation on earth, even though Americans are no healthier than the citizens of other advanced nations.”
“One tax dodge often used by multi-national companies is to squirrel their earnings abroad in foreign subsidiaries located in countries where taxes are lower.”
“By the mid-1950s, more than a third of all America workers in the private sector were unionized. And the unions demanded and received a fair slice of the American pie.”
“The curious thing is Americans don't mind individual mandates when they come in the form of payroll taxes to buy mandatory public insurance. In fact, that's the system we call Social Security and Medicare, and both are so popular politicians dare not touch them.”
“Median wages of production workers, who comprise 80 percent of the workforce, haven't risen in 30 years, adjusted for inflation.”
“Can we please agree that in the real world, corporations exist for one purpose and one purpose only - to make as much money as possible, which means cutting costs as much as possible?”
“The 'free market' is the product of laws and rules continuously emanating from legislatures, executive departments, and courts.”
“There will always be a business cycle, and white-collar workers will get hit in the next recession like they always do in recessions.”
“Media outlets that are exploiting Ebola because they want a sensational story and politicians using it to their own ends ought to be ashamed.”
“Nations are becoming less relevant in a world where everyone and everything is interconnected. The connections that matter most are again becoming more personal.”
“Only if everyone buys insurance can insurers afford to cover people with preexisting conditions or pay the costs of catastrophic diseases.”
“It is impossible to fight bullies merely by saying they're going too far.”
“Walmart isn't your average mom-and-pop operation. It's the largest employer in America. As such, it's the trendsetter for millions of other employers of low-wage workers.”
“Most financiers, corporate lawyers, lobbyists, and management consultants are competing with other financiers, lawyers, lobbyists, and management consultants in zero-sum games that take money out of one set of pockets and put it into another.”
“The largest party in America, by the way, is neither the Democrats nor the Republicans. It's the party of non-voters.”
“Political scientists after World War II hypothesized that even though the voices of individual Americans counted for little, most people belonged to a variety of interest groups and membership organizations - clubs, associations, political parties, unions - to which politicians were responsive.”
“No company can be expected to build a nuclear reactor, an oil well, a coal mine, or anything else that's one hundred percent safe under all circumstances. The costs would be prohibitive. It's unreasonable to expect corporations to totally guard against small chances of every potential accident.”