Economic Justice Quotes

“The stories we tell about who we are as a nation, and the values that define us, are not fixed. They change as facts change. They change as the balance of power in society changes. Which is why regular people, not just governments, need to be active participants in this process of retelling and reimagining our collective stories, symbols, and histories.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labour and live on. If, for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be furnished to those excluded from the appropriation. If we do not the fundamental right to labour the earth returns to the unemployed.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“The most important lesson to take from all this is that there is no way to confront the climate crisis as a technocratic problem, in isolation. It must be seen in the context of austerity and privatization, of colonialism and militarism, and of the various systems of othering needed to sustain them all. The connections and intersections between them are glaring, and yet so often, resistance to them is highly compartmentalized. The anti-austerity people rarely talk about climate change; the climate change people rarely talk about war or occupation. Too many of us fail to make the connection between the guns that take black lives on the streets of US cities and in police custody and the much larger forces that annihilate so many black lives on arid land and in precarious boats around the world. Overcoming these disconnections, strengthening the threads tying together our various issues and movements, is, I would argue, the most pressing task of anyone concerned with social and economic justice. It is the only way to build a counterpower sufficiently robust to win against the forces protecting the highly profitable but increasingly untenable status quo.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“We face so many overlapping and intersecting crises that we can't afford to fix them one at a time. We need integrated solutions, solutions that radically bring down emissions while creating huge numbers of good, unionized jobs and delivering meaningful justice to those who have been most abused and excluded under the current extractive economy.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable. But the consequences of this enormous inequality [in Europe] producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property,...[One] means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise.”
― Thomas Jefferson

“I care a lot about people, and I believe in being my brothers keeper and caring for those in need. And while I think some inequality is necessary and good, poverty is not. I envision a world where we all are prospering and succeeding in life, though in different ways and to varying degrees. Capitalism is the way.”
― Hendrith Smith, Essays on Capitalism & The U.S. Economy

“A CEO shouldn't get several hundred times the salary that the janitor is paid. An athlete shouldn't get several hundred times the salary that the waterboy is paid. A filmstar shouldn't get several hundred times the salary that the crew at the bottom are paid.

I understand if you are not yet civilized enough to flatten the field completely – for you are an infantile species after all. But at the very least, do your best to reduce the gap - that is, if you intend to be human someday.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“The poor who have neither property, friends, nor strength to labor are boarded in the houses of good farmers, to whom a stipulated sum is annually paid. To those who are able to help themselves a little or have friends from whom they derive some succor, inadequate however to their full maintenance, supplementary aids are given which enable them to live comfortably in their own houses or in the houses of their friends. Vagabonds without visible property or vocation, are placed in work houses, where they are well clothed, fed, lodged, and made to labor”
― Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia

“Perhaps we should take Jesus’s prayer seriously and participate in the ongoing work of reflecting God’s kingdom—a racially and economically just kingdom—here on earth.”
― Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church

“Ironically, the [monopolistic] concentration of capital means that one of the great fears about socialism - that decisions about what to sell would be made by small, unelected groups of bureaucrats, rather than determined by competition - is increasingly coming true under capitalism.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“The free market is not necessarily free. Whether people are free depends not just on whether they own themselves, but whether others have power over them in practice.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“The truth is: political reality changes quickly, so it's best to pick the things you want to see happen, and do your best to try to make them happen.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“We have been trained to see our issues in silos; they never belonged there.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“There would be no 'quiet quitting' if people didn’t feel that they are being quietly marginalized and bullied in the first place.
[From “On the Great Resignation” published on CounterPunch on February 24, 2023]”
― Louis Yako

“There is one more salient feature of neoliberalism that is essential in identifying it in the wild: fake social progressivism. This is one of its most sinister traits, because it helps unjust institutions appear benevolent and forward-thinking... You'll notice that tendency over and over; an institution that is inherently hierarchical and unjust tries to defuse criticisms through superficial changes. A corporation, for instance, will not increase the rights of its ordinary workers or eliminate racial and gender pay gaps, but it might introduce racial and gender diversity on its board of directors.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“Here, we can see why the authoritarian 'socialist' regimes of the twentieth century did not deserve to be called socialist at all. In the Soviet Union, workers had very limited control over their workplaces. They were told what to do by party functionaries. Socialism does not mean control by the government, it means control by the people, and if the government is not responsive to the will of the people, it's 'socialistic' in the same way that Kim Jong-Un's Democratic People's Republic of Korea is 'democratic.' This is also why, while I and many others use the term democratic socialism to draw a distinction between our ideas and the hideous so-called socialism implemented under Joseph Stalin, ultimately the term should be redundant. Socialism is a term for economic democracy, so an undemocratic system doesn't deserve to claim the name.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“A commitment to expanding democracy is at the core of all good socialist thinking. Democracy is the principle that people ought to have a say over decisions that affect them, and that they should be in control of their own lives rather than being subjected to the wishes of powerful economic and political elites.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“When governments talk of truth and reconciliation, and then push unwanted infrastructure projects, please remember this: There can be no truth unless we admit to the 'why' behind centuries of abuse and land theft. And there can be no reconciliation when the crime is still in progress.

Only when we have the courage to tell the truth about our old stories will the new stories arrive to guide us. Stories that recognize that the natural world and all its inhabitants have limits. Stories that teach us how to care for each other and regenerate life within those limits. Stories that put an end to the myth of endlessness once and for all.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“Part of the core socialist commitment involves insisting on pressing forward even when you're being told your goals are unachievable.”
― Nathan J. Robinson, Why You Should Be a Socialist

“The better news is that as we transform how we generate energy, how we move ourselves around, how we grow our food and how we live in cities, we have a historic opportunity to build a society that is fairer on every front, and where everyone is valued. Here's how we do it. We make sure that, wherever possible, our renewable energy comes from community-controlled providers and cooperatives, so that decisions about land use are made democratically and profits from energy production are used to pay for much-needed services.”
― Naomi Klein, On Fire: The Case for the Green New Deal

“Most economists oppose minimum wage laws, but that never prevents the laws from being written. The living wage movement lives on, not because of any merit, but because it's a popular political move to back anything that "helps the poor.”
― Ben Shapiro, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth

“When an entrepreneur becomes a billionaire by sucking all the resources from the world, nobody calls them a thief, yet when a homeless person steals a loaf of bread it is considered a heinous crime against humanity. If this is humanity, then I beg to report, you people are worse than animals.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Solo Standing on Guard: Life Before Law

“The question of the moral status of wealth, and the relation of Christian faith to issues of economic justice and responsibility, seems to me one of the areas in which Christians are most confused, divided, and uneasy.”
― Sondra Ely Wheeler, Wealth as Peril and Obligation: The New Testament on Possessions

“I didn't realize our government considered altruism one of its core competencies," {he} finally replied. "Is that why we're dropping a treaty that provides free helium-3 for the New Third World?" He started to unstrap his restraints. "I thought it was so we could prove to the orbital executives that we can keep up with their production demands.”
― David Pedreira, GUNPOWDER MOON

“The glory may differ based on the kind of work a person does, but nobody should suffer to make ends meet while others fly in private jets.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“Economic growth doesn't mean the growth of disparity, it means the end of disparity. And we can never end disparity from our society unless we cut off all ties with luxury, preferably by individual accountability, if not, then by means of policy.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“Takeover Twattery (The Sonnet)

Oligarchs don't even care about the welfare of their employees,
And you want them to care about social welfare! Keep dreaming!
Oligarchs have no regard for the struggles of human life,
And you think they'll transform the world! Keep dreaming!
I thought Mark was bad for not treating facebook's health issues,
But the chief twat makes Zuck look like an incompetent simpleton.
Oligarchs are poster boys for regress, not crusaders for freedom,
Better to have a CEO without answers than one who answers to none.
However, like corrupt politicians, oligarchs are made by people,
If anybody is to blame it's the morons who put them in pedestal.
If you had the common sense to question your pavlovian attraction,
Spoiled brats could never treat society as daddy's mine of emerald.
Now more than ever it is imperative to ban large scale takeovers.
Moreover, it is vital to legally shun the rise of billionaires.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“Better to have a CEO without answers than one who answers to none.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence

“Better all head back to the jungle
than some fly in private jets
while others cry of hunger.
Better have no progress whatsoever,
than the rich get richer, and the poor poorer.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Economy that rewards selfishness, is but a glorified criminal offense.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Either Right or Human: 300 Limericks of Inclusion