William O. Douglas Quotes

The New Deal's enmity for that system of free and competitive private enterprise which we call capitalism was fundamental.

What Capital wants … is what this Socialist Government does.

Any allegation of runaway capitalism has to be tempered by the observation that today we have the largest public sectors and the highest taxes the world has ever known.

To a certain extent I don't see any real need for socialism in the United States immediately, but things change and it may be that there will come a need for partial changes in our economy.

To Republicans, I humbly suggest that we make it possible for Democrats to give up their quest for redistribution of income and wealth by our acceptance of an appropriate role for government in financing those public goods and services necessary to secure a social safety net below which no American would be allowed to fall.

During the New Deal, people thought to be liberal was to reject socialism on one extreme and fascism on the other, and to preserve capitalism through regulation and a social safety net.

In the United States you have socialism for the rich and free markets for the poor.

Social Security, which transformed life for the elderly in this country, was 'socialist.' The concept of the 'minimum wage' was seen as a radical intrusion into the marketplace and was described as 'socialist.'

The Welfare State is merely a method for transforming the market economy step by step into socialism.

By adopting programs to distribute substantial amounts of income, a nation guarantees that its government will become more powerful and invasive in other ways.

I don't believe government should take over, you know, the grocery store down the street or own the means of production.

The laissez-faire argument relies on the same tacit appeal to perfection as does communism.

It's perfectly ordinary to be a socialist. It's perfectly normal to be in favor of fire departments.

I think the market driven economic system is the most productive system, but to have that work in the world, you've got to also have social investments to go along with that.

We are all socialists now, it seems. John McCain, David Cameron and Gordon Brown attack bankers' irresponsible behaviour and salaries, and call for state intervention in the financial markets. But these calls will not get them elected or re-elected if they are addressed only to the banking sector.

What if capitalism is unsustainable, and socialism is impossible?

Capitalism is using its money; we socialists throw it away.

I think you hear, at least as an undertone, and it's going to grow louder, is that we believe that capitalism is the mantra of the day and anything that creeps towards socialism is a problem.

However, leaving everything to the market is not necessarily good for society.

Conservatives may worship Adam Smith's 'invisible hand,' but for Obama, the helping hand comes in large measure from the public, not the private sector. To call this 'socialism' is to do violence to the word and to the concept. To call it 'un-American' is a smear.

The guy keeps making speeches about redistribution and maybe we ought to do something to businesses that don't invest, their holding too much money. We haven't heard that kind of talk except from pure socialists. Everybody's afraid of the government and there's no need soft peddling it, it's the truth. It is the truth.

Liberals believe government should take people's earnings to give to poor people. Conservatives disagree. They think government should confiscate people's earnings and give them to farmers and insolvent banks.

The job of government must be to provide the rules and the climate that will let the system work.

We shall either adopt a plan which will meet the problem of unemployment under capitalism or a plan will be adopted for us which will operate without capitalism.

If experts were usually right, socialism would prevail.