“Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue.
When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion;
When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing;
When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors;
When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you;
When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, you may know that your society is doomed.”
Ayn Rand