“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work”

One unnamed Reagan administration regulator was against bailing out America’s savings and loans, saying in June 1981, “Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without hell.” That is, capitalism must have its failures as Christianity must have its concept of hell.
 
Carnegie Mellon University economist Allan H. Meltzer testified before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress on February 24, 1998, arguing against International Monetary Fund bailouts. Meltzer said:
 
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work. Bankruptcies and losses, even the threat of bankruptcy, concentrate the mind on prudent behavior.”
 
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin—it doesn’t work” has been frequently quoted.
 
 
Wikipedia: Allan H. Meltzer
Allan H. Meltzer (born February 6, 1928) is an American economist and professor of Political Economy at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was born in 1928 Boston, Massachusetts. Meltzer specializes on studying monetary policy and the US Federal Reserve System, and has authored several academic papers and books on the development and applications of monetary policy, and about the history of central banking in the US.
 
Meltzer served as president of the Mont Pelerin Society for the 2012–2014 term.
 
Meltzer’s study A History of the Federal Reserve is considered the most comprehensive history of the central bank. Volume I covers the years from the creation of the Fed in 1913 until the accord with the Treasury in 1951. Volume II Book 1 covers the years from the accord in 1951 until 1969, and Volume II Book 2 discusses the period from 1970 until the end of the Great Inflation in the mid-1980s.
 
Meltzer has confirmed that he originated the aphorism “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.”
 
15 June 1981, Atlanta (GA) Constitution, “Let Them Stand Or Fall On Own” by Hal Gulliver, pg. 4A, col. 3:
Some major savings and loans are reportedly in trouble with the swings of the economy, and there is already talk of a federal government “bail out” of some sort.
 
One Reagan administration regulator expressed opposition to the notion in this fashion: “Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without hell.”
   
Google Books
Order, Law, and Crime:
An Introduction to Criminology
By Raymond J. Michalowski
New York, NY: Random House
1985
Pg. 323:
As one spokesman for the Reagan administration said, “Capitalism without failure is like Christianity without hell.”
 
Winter 1998, Cato Journal, “Asian problems and the IMF” By Allan H. Meltzer,, pg. 269:
Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.
     
17 March 1998, Pittsburgh )PA) Post-Gazette, “Economists Urge Fed to Hike Interest Rates” by Martin Crutsinger (AP), pg. C-2:
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work,” Meltzer said.
 
Google News Archive
28 December 1998, Tuscaloosa (AL) News, “Out of their mouths: ‘98 in quotable, notable words” by Bill Tammeus (Kansas City Star), pg. 7A, col. 5:
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.”—Alan Metzler, Carnegie Mellon University economist, suggesting abolishing the International Monetary Fund to stop its annoying habit of trying to fix world economic crises.
 
Google Books
Finance & Development, June 2003
By International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund
2003
Pg. ?:
“Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work. Bankruptcies and losses, even the threat of bankruptcy, concentrate the mind on prudent behavior.”
Allan H. Meltzer in testimony before the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, February 24, 1998
 
Google Books
Why Capitalism?
By Allan H. Meltzer
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2012
Pg. 131:
I have often said: “capitalism without failure is like religion without sin.” It does not work well because it removes the dynamic process that makes stockholders responsible for losses and disciplines managers who make mistakes.
 
Twitter
Vitaliy Katsenelson
‏@vitaliyk
“heaven couldn’t exist without hell or capitalism without failure, economic expansion can’t exist without recession” http://contrarianedge.com/2010/01/28/chinese-quest-for-shortcut-to-greatness/ …
8:53 PM - 15 Jan 2016
 
Twitter
MARK GILBERT
‏@ScouseView
Great line from @MAIMacro; “Like Catholicism without hell, capitalism without failure can’t work.”
9:21 AM - 9 Mar 2016