The new political gospel: public office is private graft.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
Television news is a delicate balance of serving public good and private gain.
Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
There is something inherently wrong, something out of accord with the ideals of representative democracy, when one portion of our citizenship turns its activities to private gain amid defensive war while another is fighting, sacrificing, or dying for national preservation.
... corporate power ... is not only economic—the ability to set prices without regard to market pressures or to manipulate consumer demand. It is also political—the ability to use the public government to obtain private economic goals. Corporate power means the ability of big corporations to have more than their fair share of influence over the decisions of government.
Corruption is when people in public office use that public office for private or selfish ends. This is one of the most central debates in the last 40 years in law, what is corruption.
When we give a subsidy, the benefits to the public ought to exceed the benefits to the company. When it doesn't, that's our definition of corporate welfare.
A world in which government is burdened by historic debt, philanthropy has limited resources, and the private sector is only interested in its own personal gain is simply unsustainable.
As Members of Congress, we should not be using public office for private gain.
Officials are under a constant temptation to misuse their power for the private profit of themselves or others.
The first sign of tyranny is government's complicity in privatizing the commons for private gain.
If a man, for private profit, tears at the public news, does so with the impatience of one who thinks he actually owns the news you get, it is against the national interest.
a self service interest group immeasurably aided be secrecy.
Describing the CIA which he betrayed by spying for the Russians:
For too long executive officials, businesspeople and hangers-on have enjoyed this private casino, using the payments into Fifa's account to fund their lavish lifestyles.
A basic principle of modern state capitalism is that costs and risks are socialized to the extent possible, while profit is privatized.
The cloven-foot of self-interest was now and then to be seen aneath the robe of public principle.
Corruption hits hardest at the poorest in society, those with limited or no possibilities to defend themselves. But corruption affects the whole of society as well. Decisions supposedly taken for the public good are in truth motivated by a desire for private gain and result in policies and projects that impoverish rather than enrich a country.
The struggle over waterpower is simply another chapter in the everlasting conflict between “the few” and “the many” …. I stand for the Roosevelt policies because they set the common good of all of us against the private gain of some of us.
There are people working their butts off trying to save our republic and save democracy from the likes of powerful people in the Democrat Party who want to take this country and turn it into a personal little playground for their own private gain.
To enjoy a good reputation, give publicly, and steal privately.
An individual, in promoting his own interest, may injure the public interest; a nation, in promoting the general welfare, may check the interest of a part of its members.
We want to bring back to Washington people who are more interested in public service than they are in private gain.
Expenses are nationalized; profits are privatized.
We have to remain constantly vigilant to prevent raids by those who would selfishly exploit our common heritage for their private gain. Such raids on our natural resources are not examples of enterprise and initiative. They are attempts to take from all the people just for the benefit of a few.
Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing. The increase in the value of land, arising as it does from the efforts of an entire community, should belong to the community and not to the individual who might hold title.