Daffy Duck, occasional philosopher and sporadic commenter on the human condition, helped himself to a vast hoard of treasure that he and Bugs Bunny came across while ]tunneling their way to Pismo Beach](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050111/). Along the way, he discovered an old lamp that released a genie when rubbed. Daffy treated the genie (possibly the source of all that treasure) rather shabbily. When warned by the genie that there would be consequences for his desecration, Daffy opined “consequences schmonsequences, as long as I’m rich.” In it, he presciently echoes the attitudes of the “gimme mine” crowd that has elevated this current crop of statist/redistributionists into office.
The Democrats achieved and maintained their majority control of government for numerous reasons, not the least of which is the bestowing of largesse on a significant portion of the population. Many have warned (a quote, misattributed to Alexander Tytler, is only the most famous of several) of the peril of this coming to pass, as well as the jeopardy this poses to the very essence of the nation and the way of life of its citizens.
According to Forbes, there are 185 federal means-tested welfare programs. According to the Tax Foundation, the bottom 60% of American households by income receive more from the government than they pay in taxes. On public education, the US spends more per student than almost every other nation in the world. That spending has doubled in constant dollars over the past 40 years. Medicaid, CHIP, SCHIP and other programs provide medical care, various programs provide housing assistance, food stamps and other nutrition programs feed people, programs provide job training, child care, legal services, assistance with utility costs, Obamaphones, and so forth. And, of course, there are cash (re)distributions, overt, within buried in the tax code, via extended unemployment insurance benefits, on and on.
The toll on the nation for all these programs is two-fold. First, there is the “punishment” imposed on the successful for their success. That 60% who get more from the government than they receive means that there are 40% who aren’t. Despite liberal protestations and laments, the “wealthy” are in fact carrying the freight for the rest of the nation. And, as the burden on the earners increases and the benefits to everyone else increases, there is both a disincentive to earning and a drag on productivity. We’re witnessing that very phenomenon with the latest dismissals about Obamacare job losses. Rather than acknowledge that ACA’s incentives to drop out of the workforce are going to cost the nation productivity and slow wealth creation, the chattering classes cheer the “free time” people are going to have to pursue… whatever. Fewer people in the work force and fewer hours worked means less wealth created. Yet it is the wealth that’s created by working that funds all these welfare and redistribution programs, and policies that work to the detriment of wealth creation really is akin to shooting one’s self in the foot.
Second, even the inordinate burden placed on the nation’s earners is insufficient to fund all this largesse. Deficit spending has added 5 trillion dollars to the debt just over the last 4 years, and in a classic example of lowered expectations, we’re told that since this year’s deficit might come in under a trillion dollars, we should rejoice in the government’s austerity. Debt has exceeded 100% of GDP, and no manner of “spin” about how, since we owe a big chunk of it to ourselves, it’s no big deal obviates the staggering and incomprehensible magnitude of that debt.
On top of all this, the promises made by the government to workers regarding moneys being taken from their wages are hollow. Social Security’s “trust fund” is a box full of IOUs, and Medicare as an insurance program is grossly, even criminally underfunded. By some accounts, if SS and Medicare were managed the way private pension funds and insurances are, they’d be considered underfunded to a degree that dwarfs the already absurd national debt.
Any prudent person with an eye to the future should be sweating bullets. Given the utter disinterest in our establishment politicians in reducing spending by any meaningful degree, or even holding the line on it so that growth can “catch up” the deficits, it’s virtually certain that the government will monetize the debt (in fact, it’s doing so now), and that monetization will eventually manifest itself as inflation (it’s doing so now, despite the assurances of the bean counters). Inflation destroys wealth, which is a problem if you’re the prudent sort who’s trying to prepare for the future and retirement, or if you’re looking to build a business, or even if you’re putting a few nickels and dimes in the bank against a rainy day.
But, inflation and debt aren’t such a big deal if you presume entitlement, if you hold to the attitude that the government’s going to take care of you, that you deserve to have the earnings and wealth of others given to you. And, they’re no big deal if you don’t ever contemplate the consequences of the programs and policies that provide that wealth. There’ll always be someone from whom to take, some schmuck who’s still working for a living.
Yet Daffy did suffer the consequences. The genie shrank him down to a tiny size. While it’s unlikely that miniaturization of humans will be the result of our Aesop’s grasshopper attitude regarding the future, a different form of “shrinkage” is very likely. Our standards of living, our lifestyles, are based on a certain level of productivity and on the accumulation and preservation of wealth. Casting productivity aside in favor of “free time” and reliance on others, and destroying wealth via an inflating dollar, will certainly shrink our living standards, especially in comparison to what they could and should be.
But, hey, that’s a problem for another day. For now, eat, drink and be merry. After all, someone else is footing the bill. Just don’t be too hurt and shocked when the money runs out.
Loading ...
Active Comment Threads
Most Commented Posts
Universal Background Checks – A Back Door to Universal Registration
COVID Mask Follies
When Everything Is Illegal…
An Anti-Vax Inflection Point?
“Not In My Name”
The Great Social Media Crackup
War Comes Through The Overton Window
The First Rule of Italian Driving
Most Active Commenters