# Quote — David Cay Johnston, Free Lunch

> Martin Luther King Jr. said he had a dream that one day his four children would be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. ...Today we often value people less by their character than by the contents of their wallet. ...The pursuit of ever more financial zeros... has... produced a moral breakdown... twisting our culture and our values in ways that tear at the fabric of our society.

- Author: [David Cay Johnston](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston.md)
- Book: [Free Lunch](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston/free-lunch.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Cay_Johnston#Free_Lunch_(2007)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston/free-lunch/martin-luther-king

## More from this book

> In 2006... China, Japan, Canada, and Mexico—accounted for 60 percent of our worldwide trade deficit of $764 billion.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston/free-lunch/in-2006-china.md)

> In 2006 the trade deficit with China reached $232 billion. ...more than $60 per month for every man, woman and child in America. ...In 2004 when the trade deficit... was $161 billion, it was... more than the $126 billion of income taxes paid by the bottom 75% of Americans.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston/free-lunch/in-2006-the.md)

> [P]residents of companies have gone from apologizing when they had to lay off workers to boasting of the riches... obtained through mass firings. ...[I]nvestors ...owe their wealth ...to buying companies in deals that required destroying lives and careers

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-cay-johnston/free-lunch/p-residents-of-companies.md)