---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Government has a habit of blaming the…"
description: "\"Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.\" — Tho..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png"
---

#  Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for…

![“Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.” quote by Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png)

> “Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.”

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Governments often shift blame to businesses for failures while claiming credit for progress actually driven by those businesses.

**In simple terms:** Governments blame private sector for failures and claim credit for its successes.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and question governmental narratives about private sector contributions.

Themes

politics economics accountability

Mood

skeptical analytical

Type

critical political

When to use this quote

- policy analysis
- business strategy
- public debate
- media literacy

Key Concepts

public policy blame shifting credit claiming

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you verify the true source of an innovation?
- What incentives drive governments to claim credit?

A Different Perspective

Governments may have genuine reasons for credit claims, not just deflection.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Credit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credit/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Failings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failings/) [Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Habits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habits/) [Politics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/politics/) [Private sector](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/private-sector/) [Taxes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taxes/)

## Related quotes

> [I grew up in a family that despised displays of strong emotion, rage in particular. We stewed. We sulked. When arguments did occur, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/koren-zailckas/i-grew-up-in-a-family-that-despised-displays-of-strong-emotion-rage/)

[Koren Zailckas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/koren-zailckas/)

> [Citizendium is based on the failings and unreliability of Wikipedia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/larry-sanger/citizendium-is-based-on-the-failings-and-unreliability-of-wikipedia/)

[Larry Sanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/larry-sanger/)

> [Our errors and failings are chinks in the heart's armor through which our true colors can shine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-lesser/our-errors-and-failings-are-chinks-in-the-heart-s-armor-through-which/)

[Elizabeth Lesser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-lesser/)

> [For all our failings, despite our limitations and fallibilities, we humans are capable of greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/for-all-our-failings-despite-our-limitations-and-fallibilities-we/)

[Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/)

> [“Mamma says if we stay so focused on our past failings, we won't be able to move beyond them and learn what we need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annette-bridges/mamma-says-if-we-stay-so-focused-on-our-past-failings-we-won-t-be/)

[Annette Bridges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annette-bridges/)

> [How we carry what has gone wrong for us is essential to being at home in ourselves, and present to the world with all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/krista-tippett/how-we-carry-what-has-gone-wrong-for-us-is-essential-to-being-at-home/)

[Krista Tippett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/krista-tippett/)

> [The strengths and failings of a relationship depend entirely on your ability to talk about your feelings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spike-jonze/the-strengths-and-failings-of-a-relationship-depend-entirely-on-your/)

[Spike Jonze](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spike-jonze/)

> [“Sometimes I do what I say I’m going to do, but more often I don’t. It’s a failing. The least of my failings, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-oyeyemi/sometimes-i-do-what-i-say-i-m-going-to-do-but-more-often-i-don-t-it-s/)

[Helen Oyeyemi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-oyeyemi/)

> [Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/three-of-the-gravest-failings-want-of-sense-of-courage-or-of-vigilance/)

[Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/)

> [Beauty (was)a gift which, in the eyes of New York, justified every success, and excused a certain number of failings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edith-wharton/beauty-was-a-gift-which-in-the-eyes-of-new-york-justified-every/)

[Edith Wharton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edith-wharton/)

> [My dog does have his failings, of course. He's afraid of firecrackers and hides in the clothes closet whenever we run the vacuum cleaner,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-a-kowalski/my-dog-does-have-his-failings-of-course-he-s-afraid-of-firecrackers/)

[Gary A. Kowalski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-a-kowalski/)

> [It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-k-jerome/it-is-in-our-faults-and-failings-not-in-our-virtues-that-we-touch/)

[Jerome K. Jerome](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-k-jerome/)

> [“Refusing to believe that change can occur at any moment is one of the worst of human failings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leigh-hershkovich/refusing-to-believe-that-change-can-occur-at-any-moment-is-one-of-the/)

[Leigh Hershkovich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leigh-hershkovich/)

> [Reproof should not exhaust its power upon petty failings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/reproof-should-not-exhaust-its-power-upon-petty-failings/)

[Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/)

> [There are some people upon whom their very faults and failings sit gracefully; and there are others whose very excellencies and accomplishments do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/there-are-some-people-upon-whom-their-very-faults-and-failings-sit/)

[Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/)

## More by Thomas Woods

> [One of the market's virtues, and the reason it enables so much peaceful interaction and cooperation among such a great variety of peoples, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/one-of-the-market-s-virtues-and-the-reason-it-enables-so-much/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Nullification is the Jeffersonian idea that the states of the American Union must judge the constitutionality of the acts of their agent, the federal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/nullification-is-the-jeffersonian-idea-that-the-states-of-the/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Communism brought out the worst in human nature and crippled people's ability or ambition to participate in a market economy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/communism-brought-out-the-worst-in-human-nature-and-crippled-people-s/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [If the federal government has the exclusive right to judge the extent of its own powers, warned the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions' authors (James…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/if-the-federal-government-has-the-exclusive-right-to-judge-the-extent/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [If the Tenth Amendment were still taken seriously, most of the federal government's present activities would not exist. That's why no one in Washington…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/if-the-tenth-amendment-were-still-taken-seriously-most-of-the-federal/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Keynesians think that you can take water from the deep end of the swimming, pump it into the shallow end of the swimming pool…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/keynesians-think-that-you-can-take-water-from-the-deep-end-of-the/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [There are only two (major) parties today: The Stupid Party and The Evil Party. Once in a while the two parties get together to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/there-are-only-two-major-parties-today-the-stupid-party-and-the-evil/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [The Emergency Banking Act reached back in time to amend the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which had originally been intended to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/the-emergency-banking-act-reached-back-in-time-to-amend-the-trading/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Discussions of the economy, especially during times of crisis, are often framed in terms of lessons we supposedly learned during the Depression of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/discussions-of-the-economy-especially-during-times-of-crisis-are/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Public protests against globalization - protests that occur by and large in the prosperous West - denounce free trade and the mobility of capital…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/public-protests-against-globalization-protests-that-occur-by-and/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [The power to regulate the value of money does not involve a power to dilute the value of money by inflation, an absurd and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/the-power-to-regulate-the-value-of-money-does-not-involve-a-power-to/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [That human beings seek their own well-being and that of those close to them is not an especially provocative discovery. What is important is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/that-human-beings-seek-their-own-well-being-and-that-of-those-close/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

> [Understanding the true causes of the Depression, as well as the real economic record of the United States in the 1930s, is an essential…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/understanding-the-true-causes-of-the-depression-as-well-as-the-real/)

[Thomas Woods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

[Explore all 14 Thomas Woods quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/)

## More Advances quotes

> [Advances in technology neither impede nor augment literature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-ozick/advances-in-technology-neither-impede-nor-augment-literature/)

[Cynthia Ozick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-ozick/)

> [I have done this before but I'll do it again, Please comment :) Thanks in advances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/unkown/i-have-done-this-before-but-i-ll-do-it-again-please-comment-thanks-in/)

Unkown

> [What I imagined doesn't require anti-gravity beams or anything too spectacular, just advances in analysing different genes, finding out what they can do and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-trigell/what-i-imagined-doesn-t-require-anti-gravity-beams-or-anything-too/)

[Jonathan Trigell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-trigell/)

> [“Even as technology advances, we don't”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliot-morgan/even-as-technology-advances-we-don-t/)

Elliot Morgan

> [I'm not sure the least educated members of the population are missing out on the advances in medical technology as much as they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-jay-olshansky/i-m-not-sure-the-least-educated-members-of-the-population-are-missing/)

[S. Jay Olshansky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-jay-olshansky/)

> [The idea would be in my mind - and I know it sounds strange - is that the most important advances in medicine would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-soon-shiong/the-idea-would-be-in-my-mind-and-i-know-it-sounds-strange-is-that-the/)

[Patrick Soon-Shiong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-soon-shiong/)

> [We live increasingly in a world of haves and have-nots, of gated communities next to ghettos, of extreme poverty and unbelievable riches. Some enjoy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noreena-hertz/we-live-increasingly-in-a-world-of-haves-and-have-nots-of-gated/)

[Noreena Hertz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noreena-hertz/)

> [“Advances in technology can be empowering, progressive and enriching. History has shown this across civilisations and societies. But it has also shown, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rasheed-ogunlaru/advances-in-technology-can-be-empowering-progressive-and-enriching/)

[Rasheed Ogunlaru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rasheed-ogunlaru/)

> [“Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers. —Bernard Haisch”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-houston/advances-are-made-by-answering-questions-discoveries-are-made-by/)

[Philip Houston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-houston/)

> [My mother often mailed me articles from 'Reader's Digest' about advances in DNA chemistry. No matter how I tried to explain it to her,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kary-mullis/my-mother-often-mailed-me-articles-from-reader-s-digest-about/)

[Kary Mullis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kary-mullis/)

> [Evolution advances, not by a priori design, but by the selection of what works best out of whatever choices offer. We are the products…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-wald/evolution-advances-not-by-a-priori-design-but-by-the-selection-of/)

[George Wald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-wald/)

> [For the concept of a circuit of the blood does not destroy, but rather advances traditional medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-harvey/for-the-concept-of-a-circuit-of-the-blood-does-not-destroy-but-rather/)

[William Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-harvey/)

> [Advances are Made by Answering Questions. Discoveries are Made by Questioning Answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-haisch/advances-are-made-by-answering-questions-discoveries-are-made-by-2/)

[Bernard Haisch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-haisch/)

> [From stoplights to skyscrapers, turn anywhere in civilization and you will see imagination at work. It's in our inventions, advances and remedies and how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geoffrey-s-fletcher/from-stoplights-to-skyscrapers-turn-anywhere-in-civilization-and-you/)

[Geoffrey S. Fletcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geoffrey-s-fletcher/)

> [The most important advances, the qualitative leaps, are the least predictable. Not even the best scientists predicted the impact of nuclear physics, and everyday…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-rees/the-most-important-advances-the-qualitative-leaps-are-the-least/)

[Martin Rees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-rees/)

Browse all 109 Advances quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances we in fact owe to the private sector.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Thomas Woods"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-private-sector-for-its-own/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Advances"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-private-sector-for-its-own/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e5/thomas-woods-34698_advances_government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-pr_584131.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Government has a habit of blaming the private sector for its own failings while taking credit for advances…” — Thomas Woods",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Thomas Woods",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-woods/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Government has a habit of blaming...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-private-sector-for-its-own/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-woods/government-has-a-habit-of-blaming-the-private-sector-for-its-own/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
