Bureaucracy

It was a purposeful confusion on the part of the German metaphysicians of statolatry that they clothed all men in the government service with the gloriole of altruistic self-sacrifice.From Chapter V: "The Social and Political Implictations of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

A bureau is not a profit-seeking enterprise; it cannot make use of any economic calculation; it has to solve problems which are unknown to business management. It is out of the question to improve its management by reshaping it according to the pattern of private business. It is a mistake to judge the efficiency of a government department by comparing it with the working of an enterprise subject to the interplay of market factors.From Chapter II: "Bureaucratic Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

In the bureaucratic environment the entrepreneur must resort to two means: diplomacy and bribery. It is a dangerous kind of double-dealing; only men devoid of fear and inhibitions can last in this rotten milieu.From Chapter IV: "Bureaucratic Management of Private Enterprises". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

The capitalist variety of competition is to outdo other people on the market through offering better and cheaper goods. The bureaucratic variety consists in intrigues at the "courts" of those in power.From Chapter VI: "The Psychological Consequences of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

The price of labor is a market phenomenon determined by the consumers' demands for goods and services. Virtually every employer is always in search of cheaper labor and every employee in search of a job with higher remuneration.From Chapter I: "Profit Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

The German youth movement was an impotent and abortive revolt of youth against the menace of bureaucratization. However, it was doomed because it did not attack the seed of the evil: the trend toward socialization.From Chapter VI: "The Psychological Consequences of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero.

Mises's introduction includes five parts:The Opprobrious Connotation of the Term BureaucracyThe American Citizen’s Indictment of BureaucratismThe "Progressives'" View of BureaucratismBureaucratism and TotalitarianismThe Alternative: Profit Management or Bureaucratic ManagementNarrated by Millian Quinteros. 

No private enterprise will ever fall prey to bureaucratic methods of management if it is operated with the sole aim of making profit.From Chapter IV: "Bureaucratic Management of Private Enterprises". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

The sovereignty of the consumers and the democratic operation of the market do not stop at the doors of a big business concern. They permeate all its departments and branches. Responsibility to the consumer is the lifeblood of business and enterprise in an unhampered market society. The profit motive through the instrumentality of which the entrepreneurs are driven to serve the consumers to the best of their ability is at the same time the first principle of any commercial and industrial aggregate's internal organization.From Chapter I: "Profit Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

As soon as an undertaking is no longer operated under the profit motive, other principles must be adopted for the conduct of its affairs.From Chapter III: "Bureaucratic Management of Publicly Owned Enterprises". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

The virtue of the profit system is that it puts on improvements a premium high enough to act as an incentive to take high risks. If this premium is removed or seriously curtailed, there cannot be any question of progress.From Chapter IV: "Bureaucratic Management of Private Enterprises". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

All champions of salvation through the rule of noble despots blithely assume that there cannot be any doubt about the question of who this lofty ruler or class of rulers should be and that all men will voluntarily yield to the supremacy of this superhuman dictator or aristocracy.From Chapter VI: "The Psychological Consequences of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

Bureaucratization is only a particular feature of socialization. The main matter is: Capitalism or Socialism?From Chapter VII: "Is there any Remedy Available?" Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

The strait jacket of bureaucratic organization paralyzes the individual's initiative, while within the capitalist market society an innovator still has a chance to succeed. Just common sense is needed to prevent man from falling prey to illusory fantasies and empty catchwords.Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

The capitalists, the enterprisers, and the farmers are instrumental in the conduct of economic affairs. They are at the helm and steer the ship. But they are not free to shape its course. They are not supreme, they are steersmen only, bound to obey unconditionally the captain's orders. The captain is the consumer.From Chapter I: "Profit Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

The impracticability of all schemes of socialism and central planning is to be seen in the impossibility of any kind of economic calculation under conditions in which there is no private ownership of the means of production and consequently no market prices for these factors.From Chapter I: "Profit Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

The first virtue of a government administrator is to abide by the codes and decrees. He becomes a bureaucrat.From Chapter II: "Bureaucratic Management". Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

Every kind of government meddling with the business of private enterprise results in the same disastrous consequences. It paralyzes initiative and breeds bureaucratism.From Chapter IV: "Bureaucratic Management of Private Enterprises". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

Under a market society the profit motive is the directing principle. Under government control it is regimentation. There is no third possibility left.From Chapter V: "The Social and Political Implictations of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero. 

The bureaucrat is in a peculiar position: he is both employer and employee. And his pecuniary interest as employee towers above his interest as employer, as he gets much more from the public funds than he contributes to them.From Chapter V: "The Social and Political Implictations of Bureaucratization". Narrated by Millian Quintero.