The only justifiable stopping place for for the expansion of altruism — Welfare

"The welfare of a nation can scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income."

"Doing for people what they can and ought to do for themselves is a dangerous experiment. In the last analysis the welfare of the workers depends upon their own initiative. Whatever is done under the guise of philanthropy or social morality which in any way lessens initiative is the greatest crime that can be committed against the toilers. Let social busy-bodies and professional "public morals experts" in their fads reflect upon the perils they rashly invite under this pretense of social welfare."

"We have here a human as well as an economic problem. When humane considerations are concerned, Americans give them precedence. The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."

"Financial markets are the machines in which much of human welfare is decided; yet we know more about how our car engines work than about how our global financial system functions. We lurch from crisis to crisis. In a networked world, mayhem in one market spreads instantaneously to all others—and we have only the vaguest of notions how this happens, or how to regulate it."

"Welfare provision has the potential to challenge capitalism, both as a means of acting as a barrier against exploitation and oppression, as well as exemplifying the principles of what an alternative socialist system might be build upon. Although by no means an explicitly socialist program, it was advanced most effectively by socialists who viewed it potentially aiding the transition to a democratic socialist society. Reforms, although occurring within the context of capitalism, can still have revolutionary intent as they have the potential to accelerate the class struggle in the direction of socialism."