Rothbard on Evils of Bailouts

“Subsidies…prolong the life of inefficient firms at the expense of efficient ones, distort the productive system, and hamper the mobility of factors [of production] from less to more value-productive locations. They injure the market greatly and prevent the full satisfaction of consumer wants…The greater the extent of government subsidy in the economy, therefore, the more the market is prevented from working, and the more inefficient will the market be in catering to consumer wants. Hence, the greater the government subsidy, the lower will be the standard of living of everyone, of all the consumers.”–Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy and State with Power and Market (Mises Institute), 2nd ed., p. 1255