[N]othing is more guaranteed to attract government money than repeated failure.
Category: waste
False prosperity
War prosperity is like the prosperity that an earthquake or plague brings.
The damage is already done
Panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been previously destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works.
Spendthrift rulers
It is the highest impertinence and presumption, therefore, in kings and ministers to pretend to watch over the economy of private people, and to restrain their expense … They are themselves always, and without exception, the greatest spendthrifts in the society. Let them look well after their own expense, and they may safely trust private people with theirs.
Government backs only losers
If an idea or business has merit, under free-market capitalism someone will undertake to make it successful. The only ideas or businesses that languish are those that have no merit. Therefore, when the government backs an idea or a business, it is by definition backing a loser, for only a loser would need government backing.