Susan George quotes

Debt is such a powerful tool, it is such a useful tool, it's much better than colonialism ever was because you can keep control without having an army, without having a whole administration. (Susan George)
There is no degree of human suffering which in and of itself is going to bring about change. Only organisation can change things.
Susan George
If you cut down a forest, it doesn't matter how many sawmills you have if there are no more trees.
Susan George
The World Bank is now the biggest culprit in the debt crisis.
Susan George
We have the most crude accounting tools. It's tragic because our accounts and our national arithmetic doesn't tell us the things that we need to know.
Susan George
Much of what is called investment is actually nothing more than mergers and acquisitions, and of course mergers and acquisitions are generally accompanied by downsizing.
Susan George
We're trying to run a 21st century society and economy with 19th century Darwinian, competitive, crude ideas.
Susan George
The natural capital is not income, but we spend our natural capital as if it were revenue, as if it were going to come back next year without any problems, whereas these renewals in nature can take hundreds of years.
Susan George
The real fight is about what should be in the marketplace and what should not. Should education be a marketable commodity? Should healthcare?
Susan George
It seems to be the thing now that young people are getting back into politics.
Susan George
As the rich consume more and more, they are clearly not going to want to downgrade their own status. (Susan George)
I'm a radical reformist, because between where we are and where I want to go there's a great deal of work, and I won't see the end of this.
Susan George
Redistribution of wealth would require enormous amounts of investment. The only time an elite has accepted this has been during crises, such as in America in the 1930s under Roosevelt.
Susan George
Markets can't think about anything beyond about three months. This is very long-term for markets, which is why the important things in life have got to be taken outside of the marketplace.
Susan George
The World Development Movement, to take just one example, is doing good work. Some political parties are, too.
Susan George
If the economy becomes disembodied from society it can only lead to disaster.
Susan George
Having enough to eat, being able to educate your children, have reasonably stable employment, and being able to live in a society which isn't collapsing around you-all of these things have been generally eroded.
Susan George
Now we are flying off into outer space, there is no clear curb on what can be done in the name of the economy.
Susan George
The question is not only what is grown but what it's used for. There's not going to be a mass transformation of dietary habits in rich countries-on the contrary, the first thing people do when they become more prosperous is to buy more meat.
Susan George
What it missing, I think, is this notion of the common good.
Susan George
The Sierra Club in the United States has now really come out for population control and reduction. (Susan George)
This erosion of the middle class is happening all over the place. The opening of a wider gap between rich and poor is always accompanied by such a process.
Susan George
What you need if you want jobs are small and medium sized enterprises, local initiatives, labour intensive work, community development, service providers and the like.
Susan George
I used to work a lot on food issues and every time somebody predicted that production would be inadequate they got egg on their face a year or two later.
Susan George
Cost recovery is the polite way of saying, make families pay to educate their children.
Susan George