Donald Luskin > Quotes

“Value #1: Reality Huh? Isn’t every business based on reality? In fact, isn’t everything based on reality? Actually, no. Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG (American International Group), IndyMac, Washington Mutual, Countrywide, and all the other banks that blew themselves to smithereens in 2008 weren’t basing their businesses on reality. They were basing their businesses on sheer fantasy, wish, and whim—and an unhealthy dose of greed, the most unrealistic thing of all. They believed the housing market would always go up. Credit markets would never be illiquid. People with no jobs could pay back their mortgages.”
― Donald Luskin, I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It

“Allison is very clear that “charity is secondary.” He says, “Producing is more important than giving away, because you have to produce before you can give away.”
― Donald Luskin, I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It

“Much has been made—mostly by spiteful critics—of Gates’s privileged upbringing and supposed million-dollar trust fund as the origin of his eventual business success. The truth is that he bootstrapped his business endeavors from day one. And even if he hadn’t, the world abounds with trust fund kids who created small fortunes by frittering away large ones.”
― Donald Luskin, I Am John Galt: Today's Heroic Innovators Building the World and the Villainous Parasites Destroying It