If capitalism worked as the socialists think an economic system ought to work, and provided a constant equality of living conditions for all, regardless of whether a man was able or not, resourceful or not, diligent or not, thrifty or not, if capitalism put no premiums on resourcefulness and effort and not penalty on idleness or vice, it would produce only an equality of destitution.

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We economists don't know much, but we do know how to create a shortage. If you want to create a shortage of tomatoes, for example, just pass a law that retailers can't sell tomatoes for more than two cents per pound. Instantly you'll have a tomato shortage. It's the same with oil or gas.

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A minimum-wage law is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills.

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If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand.

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One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

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The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits.

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A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.

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You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.

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When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it. When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less what he spends it on. When a man spends someone else's money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about what he buys, but doesn't care at all how much he spends. And when a man spends someone else's money on someone else, he does't care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that's government for you.

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The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.

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