The State apparatus needs, at its summit as at its base, predisabled people, preexisting amputees, the stillborn, the congenitally infirm, the one-eyed and one-armed. Thus there is a tempting three-part hypothesis: the war machine is […]

George Martin always seemed to me to be a toff and a gentleman even though his roots, like many of us, were in the common people. George has a touch of class that is quite impressive.

[…] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver.

Rent seeking, therefore, is rational for the individual as it increases individual accumulation (individual income and firm profits increase). From a societal perspective, rent seeking is irrational as resources are wasted by being diverted away from social accumulation for the sake of individual accumulation.