… is from page 177 of Volume 1 (2004) – The Virtues of Capitalism – of The Collected Works of Arthur Seldon:
[I]n markets people generally spend their own money; governments spend other people’s money, always, and in much larger quantities. There are no safeguards in representative bodies that reproduce the intimate personal knowledge in the market of the conditions or requirements of each man or woman; no comparable anxiety to make the most of every penny, franc or florin; no consciousness of the personal consequences of error, carelessness or foolishness; no corresponding sense of responsibility in spending, saving, investing or wasting money.
