Quotes by Mark Skousen - Page 2

The reality is that business and investment spending are the true leading indicators of the economy and the stock market. If you want to know where the stock market is headed, forget about consumer spending and retail sales figures. Look to business spending, price inflation, interest rates, and productivity gains.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Business
Economy
Figures
Gains
Inflation
Investment
Productivity
Reality
Retail
Spending
Want
True
Consumer
Headed
Interest Rates
Leading
Market
Price
Rates
Sales
Stock
Stock Market
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One suggestion my wife and I have used in our personal finance courses we teach at college is simply writing down all expenditures and seeing where the money goes. That alone will cause heads of households to think twice about x, y or z expenditure, and to consider carefully whether they really need something or not.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Finance
College
Courses
Teach
Thinking
Writing
Twice
Carefully
Consider
Expenditure
Heads
Households
Suggestion
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Fraud is common when you give away billions. Fraud related to Hurricane Katrina spending is estimated to top $2 billion. In addition, debit cards provided to hurricane victims were used to pay for Caribbean vacations, NFL tickets, Dom Perignon champagne, 'Girls Gone Wild' videos, and at least one sex change operation.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Girl
Vacation
Billions
Cards
Caribbean
Champagne
Common
Fraud
Hurricane Katrina
Nfl
Pay
Related
Sex
Spending
Tickets
Addition
At Least One
Billion
Wild
Estimated
Hurricane
Least
Operation
Provided
Vacations
Victims
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You can give your Social Security check to any organization, public or private, or to individuals. You can donate it to your favorite political party. You can give the funds to a student scholarship - for your grandchildren, for example - or to somebody who has a medical need. Or you can invest your government check in free enterprise.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Government
Donate
Enterprise
Free Enterprise
Grandchildren
Organization
Party
Scholarship
Social Security
Check
Invest
For Example
Funds
Individuals
Political Party
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The fundamental flaw in Social Security and Medicare is that they violate the 'welfare principle' in economics. The welfare principle forms the fundamental basis of all charitable work in churches and other private organizations: assist those who need help, and equally important, don't assist individuals who can take care of themselves.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Charitable
Charitable Work
Important
Organization
Social Security
Take Care
Welfare
Assist
Basis
Forms
Churches
Equally
Flaw
Fundamental
Individuals
Principle
Violate
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Back in 1960, the paper dollar and the silver dollar both were the same value. They circulated next to each other. Today? The paper dollar has lost 95% of its value, while the silver dollar is worth $34, and produced a 2-3 times rise in real value. Since we left the gold standard in 1971, both gold and silver have become superior inflation hedges.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Dollars
Gold
Real
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Today's political leaders demonstrate their low opinion of the public with every social law they pass. They believe that, if given the right to chose, the citizenry will probably make the wrong choice. Legislators do not think any more in terms of persuading people; they feel the need to force their agenda on the public at the point of a bayonet and the barrel of a gun, in the name of the IRS, the SEC, the FDA, the DEA, the EPA, or a multitude of other ABCs of government authority.
Mark Skousen / Economist
Believe
Gun
Thinking
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Most of Marx's predictions have failed to materialize, and his labor theory of value and other ideas have been proven wrong. Marx failed to recognize the incentive system built into the capitalist model - consumer choice and the profit motive of the entrepreneur. The irony is that capitalism, not socialism or Marxism, that has liberated the worker from the chains of poverty, monopoly, war, and oppression, and has better achieved Marx's vision of a millennium of hope, peace, abundance, leisure, and aesthetic expression for the 'full' human being.
Mark Skousen / Economist
War
Expression
Ideas
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In short, my vision of a responsible free society is one in which we discourage evil, but do not prohibit it. We make our children and students aware of the consequences of drug abuse and other forms of irresponsible behavior. But after all our persuading, if they still want to use harmful drugs, that is their privilege. In a free society, individuals must have the right to do right or wrong, as long as they don't threaten or infringe upon the rights or property of others. They must also suffer the consequences of their actions, as it is from consequences that they learn to choose properly
Mark Skousen / Economist
Freedom
Children
Rights
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Mark Skousen Quotes - Page 2

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