Capitalism Quotes by Noam Chomsky

Free markets are based on the free circulation of labor. If you don't have free circulation of labor, you don't have free…

— Noam Chomsky

Borders are semiporous. Capital flows more freely than people across them. on C Span.

— Noam Chomsky

Capitalism denies the right to live. You have only the right to remain on the labour market.

— Noam Chomsky

Under capitalism, we can't have democracy by definition. Capitalism is a system in which the central institutions of society are in principle…

— Noam Chomsky

Bear in mind that capitalism is a tiny period of human society. You never really had capitalism, you always had one or…

— Noam Chomsky

Half the population hold that the government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves, as polls regularly show.

— Noam Chomsky

A basic principal of modern state capitalism is that costs and risks are socialized to the extent possible, while profit is privatized.

— Noam Chomsky

“At their most eloquent, proponents of neoliberalism sound as if they are doing poor people, the environment, and everybody else a tremendous…

— Noam Chomsky

...free enterprise, [is] a term that refers, in practice, to a system of public subsidy and private profit, with massive government intervention…

— Noam Chomsky

With the development of industrial capitalism, a new and unanticipated system of injustice, it is libertarian socialism that has preserved and extended…

— Noam Chomsky

“One should attend carefully to the fear and desperation of the powerful. They understand very well the potential reach of the "ultimate…

— Noam Chomsky

Capitalism’s concept of competitive man who seeks only to maximize wealth and power, who subjects himself to market relationships, to exploitation and…

— Noam Chomsky

Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain…

— Noam Chomsky

Capitalism would self-destruct in no time. So the business classes have always demanded strong, straight intervention to protect the society from the…

— Noam Chomsky

“It [predatory capitalism] is incapable of meeting human needs that can be expressed only in collective terms, and its concept of competitive…

— Noam Chomsky

“I mean, remember what the Vietnam War was fought for, after all. The Vietnam War was fought to prevent Vietnam from becoming…

— Noam Chomsky

Through much of its history, the US did not have high inequality as compared with Europe. Less so, in fact. That began…

— Noam Chomsky

The Bolshevik revolution was a counter-revolution. Its first moves were to destroy and eliminate every socialist tendency that had developed in the…

— Noam Chomsky

“The rich and powerful are going to survive longer, but the effects are very real―and they're getting worse very quickly as more…

— Noam Chomsky

“That comes to about one hundred million people in India alone from 1947 to 1980. But we don’t call that a crime…

— Noam Chomsky

Like most terms of political discourse, socialism has more or less, lost its meaning. Socialism used to mean something. If you go…

— Noam Chomsky

In the moral calculus of currently prevailing state capitalism, profits and bonuses in the next quarter greatly outweigh concern for the welfare…

— Noam Chomsky

“James Madison framed the constitutional order so that power would be in the hands of the Senate, which represents “the wealth of…

— Noam Chomsky

“First of all, we've never had capitalism, so it can't end. We have some variety of state capitalism. If you fly on…

— Noam Chomsky

“Both political parties have moved to the right during the neoliberal period. Today’s New Democrats are pretty much what used to be…

— Noam Chomsky

“There was very conscious discussion of the need to create wants—and in fact, extensive efforts were then undertaken to do exactly what…

— Noam Chomsky

“I mean, to talk about "corporate greed" is like talking about "military weapons" or something like that―there just is no other possibility.…

— Noam Chomsky

“And with the decline of the traditional manufacturing industries in recent years, it's getting worse, not better. As capital becomes more fluid…

— Noam Chomsky

“How people themselves perceive what they are doing is not a question that interests me. I mean, there are very few people…

— Noam Chomsky

“Sure, but having jobs doesn't require destroying the environment which makes life possible. I mean, if you have participatory social planning, and…

— Noam Chomsky

“And when the ocean starts rising to the level of whatever building they're in and whatever floor they're on as they write…

— Noam Chomsky

“Well, it's been obvious for centuries that capitalism is going to self-destruct: that's just inherent in the logic of system―because to the…

— Noam Chomsky

“Over recent years, [there's been] a strong tendency to require assessment of children and teachers so that [teachers] have to teach to…

— Noam Chomsky

“Well, it depends which planned economies you mean. There are lots of planned economies―the United States is a planned economy, for example.…

— Noam Chomsky

“But you see, "libertarian" has a special meaning in the United States. The United Statesis off the spectrum of the main tradition…

— Noam Chomsky

As far as Marx's analysis of capitalism, there's a lot of very useful ideas in it, but he's developing an abstract model…

— Noam Chomsky

I don't really think there have been transitional periods to socialism. There have been efforts, but they have usually been destroyed by…

— Noam Chomsky

“Henry Ford introduced the assembly line, which was efficient but also a highly controlling device. There was a problem with the assembly…

— Noam Chomsky

“Neoliberalism is the defining political economic paradigm of our time—it refers to the policies and processes whereby a relative handful of private…

— Noam Chomsky

“[...] in a predatory capitalist economy, state intervention would be an absolute necessity to preserve human existence and to prevent the destruction…

— Noam Chomsky