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Von Mises has many good points about the shortcomings of socialism, however, he conveniently glosses over the shortcomings of capitalism.
He is also inaccurate in his portrayal of the Soviet Union. The central planning and socialist system there produced the highest rate of economic growth known for any civilization, ever. Granted, this growth fizzled out after 1975 due to inefficiency, and the economic growth was not accompanied by a proportionate increase in living standard. However, the increase in the standard of living was significant, as life expectancy and infant mortality improved greatly. Its also foolish to compare US capitalism with Soviet socialism as well. A more accurate comparison would be between Russian socialism in 1989 and Russian capitalism in the present day. When you make that comparison you find that GDP (and coordinately GDP per capita) is way down, poverty and unemployment are up, and life expectancy and infant mortality are worse. Are people better off? Some people definitely are, but the majority are probably not.
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