Therefore, to the extent that one's life is spent in using force to coerce others, to that extent is one's life destroyed, its higher purpose frustrated. Furthermore, government has embraced wholeheartedly the hiring and advancement of people for reasons other than merit. This further lowers efficiency. A successful organization must rely on the quality of an employee's work when judging and rewarding employees, otherwise it will be left behind by competitors. The government can't measure economic results since they have no bottom line and no profit or loss to judge their performance.
Government thinks success comes from spending more rather than spending less.
Despite these drawbacks and limitations, people still insist that government provide them with crucial services such as retirement, health, housing, insurance and numerous guarantees. Incompetent government will ultimately fail at this task. To rely on the government to solve all of life's problems has become a glaring weakness of the American people. Leonard Read knew that the absence of government intrusion was responsible for the great burst of creativity that lifted our country to its exalted economic position. The Russians showed the world just how sterile and destructive to human creativity is Socialism.