One author saw it all coming

"When you discover that to be allowed to produce anything, you must ask permission from men who produce nothing--and who don't know how to produce anything; when you see that money flows to people who deal not in goods but in arranging government favors; when you realize that men get far richer by graft and influence than by work, and that your laws don't protect you and your family against their rapacity, but protect them against you; when you see corruption lavishly rewarded...you know your society is doomed."
    --Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged" (slightly edited)