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By default, we have created a "system" of nursing-home care for the aged in which middle-class people pay exorbitant rates to for-profit nursing-home entrepreneurs — and then when private resources are consumed and the patient qualifies as a pauper, the nursing home begins billing Medicaid. This is precisely the antithesis of social citizenship; instead of the poor being accorded the dignity associated with the middle class, equality of treatment is achieved by making the middle class undergo pauperization.

— Robert Kuttner The Economic Illusion (1984)

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More quotes by Robert Kuttner

When laissez-faire creates instability, the move to a freer market can be something less than pure gain.

The Economic Illusion (1984)

The economic illusion is the belief that social justice is bad for economic growth.

The Economic Illusion (1984)

In practice, a good deal of the outcomes produced by the market reflect nothing more than luck — good or bad.

The Economic Illusion (1984)

Technological advance often thrives in sheltered and subsidized markets, which defy free trade.

The Economic Illusion (1984)

Henry Ford, in a sense, was the first Keynesian. He paid his assembly workers high wages so they could afford to buy his cars.

The Economic Illusion (1984)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Kuttner (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.