Ludwig Von Mises produced his classic Human Action in 1949, but much of what he said is applicable to today’s world.
Consider the following passage, which could describe the current debates among presidential candidates:
If such a country [Kokai’s note: a country that supports government intervention in the economy] is under a democratic government, the problems of
capital preservation and accumulation of additional capital become the
main issue of political antagonisms. There will be demagogues to
contend that more could be dedicated to current consumption than those
who happen to be in power or the other parties are disposed to allow.
They will always be ready to declare that “in the present emergency”
there cannot be any question of piling up capital for later days and
that, on the contrary, consumption of a part of the capital already
available is fully justified. The various parties will outbid one
another in promising the voters more government spending and at the
same time a reduction of all taxes which do not exclusively burden the
rich. In the days of laissez faire people looked
upon government as an institution whose operation required an
expenditure of money which must be defrayed by taxes paid by the
citizens. In the individual citizens’ budgets the state was an item of
expenditure. Today the majority of the citizens look upon government as
an agency dispensing benefits. The wage earners and the farmers expect
to receive from the treasury more than they contribute to its revenues.
