Beginning Quotes
As soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until the end is the tyranny of the totalitarian state.
"As soon as government management begins it upsets the natural equilibrium of industrial relations, and each interference only requires further bureaucratic control until the end is the tyranny of the totalitarian state."— Adam Smith
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Meaning of this quote
The statement predicts an inevitable slide from government intervention to totalitarian rule, a sweeping claim requiring evidence.
Key takeaway:
Evaluate a particular intervention and its safeguards rather than assuming an inevitable outcome.
Origin of the quote
Everett Dean Martin, Social Philosophies at War (1939), traced by Quote Investigator
Who actually said this?
Quote Investigator traces the words to Everett Dean Martin’s 1939 essay summarizing Smith, not to Smith himself. Its cited scans identify Investment Banking, November 1939, pp. 12–13.
