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The politician and the government expert receive their revenues, not from service voluntarily purchased on the market, but from a compulsory levy on the populace. These officials, therefore, wholly lack the pecuniary incentive to care about serving the public properly and competently.
Murray Rothbard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Politicians and government officials do not earn their income through voluntary exchange, which may diminish their incentive to serve the public effectively.

In this quote, Murray Rothbard points out that politicians and government experts are funded through taxes rather than voluntary transactions. This compulsory funding leads to a lack of accountability and a diminished incentive for these officials to prioritize the needs and welfare of the public, as their financial success does not depend on the quality of their service.

Themes

PoliticsGovernmentPublic ServiceIncentiveTaxation

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about government efficiency, this quote can highlight the issues with how politicians are funded.

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In the market, the fittest are those most able to serve the consumers; in government, the fittest are those most adept at wielding coercion and/or those most adroit at making demagogic appeals to the voting public.
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No one may threaten or commit violence ('aggress') against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.
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If government manages to establish paper tickets or bank credit as money, as equivalent to gold grams or ounces, then the government, as dominant money-supplier, becomes free to create money costlessly and at will. As a result, this 'inflation' of the money supply destroys the value of the dollar or pound, drives up prices, cripples economic calculation, and hobbles and seriously damages the workings of the market economy.
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