Quote

The important lesson of the deficit is - and the national debt - is we have to be careful about how we're spending money.

Joseph Stiglitz

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Joseph Stiglitz
Age: 81
Born: 1943
Born: February 9
Critic
Economist
Non-Fiction Writer
Professor
Science Writer
University Teacher
Writer
Gary
Indiana
Joseph Eugene Stiglitz
Joseph Stiglitz
Lessons
Money
Important
Deficit
Lesson
Debt
Spending
Careful
National

More quotes by Joseph Stiglitz

Image
You saw on your TV what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The Reserves or National Guard are usually the people we use for those national emergencies. They weren't here, they were over in Iraq, and so we were less protected.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
The Bush administration has been doing everything it can to hide the huge number of returning veterans who are severely wounded - 17,000 so far including roughly 20 percent with serious brain and head injuries. Even the estimate of $500 billion ignores the lifetime disability and healthcare costs that taxpayers will have to spend for years to come.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
America has had to turn to foreigners to finance its debt - not surprising since household saving in the last years has plummeted to zero. China is one of the largest holders of American debt.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
The war in Iraq has been very, very expensive - partly because the Administration tried to keep the apparent costs down. But the benefits have been elusive at best - partly because the ostensible reasons for going war were unconnected with reality - no weapons of mass destruction, no connections with 9/11.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Similarly, payments for a dead soldier amount to only $500,000, which is far less than standard estimates of the lifetime economic cost of a death. This statistical value of a life in the US amounts to circa $6.5 million.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Nationalization of private debts undermines prudential lender behavior and is a government intervention in the market.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
For 60 years, since World War II, we have been trying to create a rules-based system, a global economic system. We understand that what makes our economy function is what we call the rule of law, and what is true domestically is also true internationally. It is important to have rules by which we govern our relations with other countries.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Negative effects on the economy were covered up with a flood of liquidity from the Fed. That,plus lax regulation, led to a housing bubble, a consumption boom - but we were living on borrowed money. It was inevitable that there would be a day of reckoning, and it has now come. We will be paying the costs with interest.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
The proposal for a new global reserve currency - or Special Drawing Rights - is a good idea for many reasons. Yes, for the Chinese it would cushion any fall in the value of the dollar per se because it would only be part of a basket of other currencies, including the yen and the euro.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
I knew that discrimination existed, even though there were many individuals who were not prejudiced.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
The striking thing about America is - it's historically, extraordinary unusual, I don't of any other instance - is that productivity of workers and wages have not moved in tandem.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
For that to happen, growth has to be very strong. To get back to normalcy, we will have to have extended growth of more than 3 percent. That's not in the cards.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
GDP tells you nothing about sustainability
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
I think that for the developing world there are many versions of capitalism, and countries have to choose one that's appropriate.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Economists often like startling theorems, results which seem to run counter to conventional wisdom.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Macroeconomic policy can never be devoid of politics: it involves fundamental trade-offs and affects different groups differently.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
The issue is: $1 trillion or $2 trillion is a lot of money. If our objective is to have stability in the Middle East, secure oil, or extend democracy, you can do a lot of democracy buying for this sum. To put it in context: The whole world spends $50 billion a year on foreign aid.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
I don't think anybody really thinks that one should get rid of the World Bank. Reform is one thing, but getting rid of it I think would be wrong.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
My teachers helped guide and motivate me but the responsibility of learning was left with me, an approach to learning which was later reinforced by my experiences at Amherst.
Joseph Stiglitz
Image
Unfettered market American-style capitalism doesn't work. Developing countries can't afford that kind of luxury. They just can't afford it. Period. If there's a mistake, they can't afford to put out $2 trillion.
Joseph Stiglitz