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“Another tried-and-true method for bending subjects to the state's will is inducing guilt. Any increase in private well-being can be attacked as "unconscionable greed, "materialism",, or "excessive affluence." Profit-making can be attacked as "exploitation" and "usury", mutually beneficial exchanges are denounced as selfishness, and somehow, with the conclusion always being drawn that more resources should be siphoned from the private to the public sector. The induced guilt makes the public more ready to do just that. While individual persons tend to indulge in "selfish greed", the failure of the state's rulers to engage in exchanges is supposed to signify their devotion to higher and nobler causes, parasitic predation being apparently morally and aesthetically lofty as compared to peaceful and productive work.” — Murray N. Rothbard