August 3rd, 2009

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "GOVERNMENT MONEY"

You cannot turn on a TV or radio or open a newspaper or a website these days without sales pitches and promises of ways you can purchase items or services via “government money.”

Everything from cars to solar panels are being pitched at virtually “no cost to you,” because you will be aided and assisted by “government money.”

The truth of the matter is that there is no such thing as “government money.”

I do not begrudge the businesses making these claims. They are doing what any entrepreneur in America should do; assessing the landscape and using the tools available to them to increase their profit margin. So be it. These businesses have every right to advertise their products and point out the tax breaks and rebate checks that are available to their customers via government agencies and programs. They have every right as well to use terms such as “government money,” and “financial assistance/help from the government,” or one of my favorites, “the government will give you…”

It’s still hogwash.

Government money does not exist. Not in America. It’s my money, and your money, and it’s being redistributed and flushed down the toilet in the name of social engineering, central planning, class warfare and other wasteful programs doomed to fail.

Every car dealer on the planet is currently espousing the virtues of the “cash for clunkers,” program. This dopey form of behavior control is designed to “stimulate” the car sales industry (which it won’t in the long run) while forcing people out of their environmentally harmful cars and into smaller, more efficient vehicles, which is why it won’t work. Despite all of the media lies of the past few years, the truth of the matter is that Americans love their big cars and trucks a lot more than they love the environment. Gas prices are relatively low and we want big, powerful, fun vehicles, not those that run on banana peels, 9 volt batteries and donkey turds. In the “Cash for Clunkers,” program the U.S. government essentially provides you with up to $4500 off the purchase price of your new car if you turn in your current gas guzzler and buy a more efficient vehicle. Of course car dealers are going to use this to entice customers and of course a few people are going to take advantage of it, but for the most part the people that will buy cars are people that were already going to make such purchases. A discount of $4500 on a $30,000 car does not equate to tangible extra cash in peoples’ pockets right now. Nor does it make the monthly payment any easier to manage for someone who doesn’t have one right now (thus destroying the theory that someone with a paid off car is going to rush out and buy a brand new Prius on the promise of the almighty “government money”).

Never mind facts and common sense, of course. The media and administration fell all over themselves proclaiming the overwhelming success of this abhorrent program in its first week. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have artificially stimulated an industry that we have already donated $80 billion of tax money to in the name of baling out GM and Chrysler. How insane is this? Furthermore, think of the precedents set; for starters we have yet again told the American people that the government will act as their parents and hand them money in times of “need.” (Not to mention that as we recover from the worst recession in two generations, this one caused solely by excess and living beyond our means, we have re-enforced to our society that nothing is more important than the status symbol of a new car). Finally and most egregious, which industry should the government artificially stimulate next? Plenty of companies are hurting and all would love the almighty government to come along and offer incentives to people to buy their products.

At the risk of engaging in macro-economics, here is a quick tip; YOU will pay for this in the end. While the whole program is sold to you as the rich footing the bill for the rest of America, that is not how it works in a practical sense. This is as simply as I can put it; as the government goes further in debt, everything gets more expensive and that car payment you think is manageable now won’t be in a year when everything you buy costs 10% more. The rich will still have theirs, and you will be broke and your car repossessed; yet somehow the “cash for clunkers” program will be deemed a success. Logic in America; it’s fantastic!

Worse than the fact that the system is based on a flawed and failed attempt to stimulate the car industry is that the government has no business doing so. It is not our government’s job to in any way affect any of the markets in America. Consumers spurn demand and need based on market realities, not government manipulation. That’s why it’s called a “free” market; we, the customers, are free to decide what gets bought and sold.

Worse than that is the implied and overt behavior control that continues to run rampant out of our politicians and into our seemingly accepting hands. Yet again, we have a government program funded by we the people designed to re-enforce a totally un-proven theory that humans are creating global warming. This, of course, despite the fact that more and more scientists are vocally challenging not just the notion of man-made global warming, but the idea that the globe is even warming at all! http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/32821

Most insulting, though, is the idea that there is such a thing as “government money.” In America, the government is funded solely by tax receipts paid by we the people. The government has the power to print money, but only after securing loans from outside sources, usually other countries. Those loans must be paid back, with interest, as the government collects taxes from we the people. Thus, government money comes from we the people. Furthering the thus, those of us who actually pay taxes (which is only 50% of us) are buying cars for other people, for no reason other than to improve car dealers’ businesses and give people newer, nicer, more planet-friendly cars.

C’mon…I can’t be the only one who sees this as criminal.

A few weeks ago, while discussing the possible future of health care in America, I pointed out that ultimately what the plan is designed to do is to force everyone in America to buy health insurance, even those healthy enough that they don’t need or want coverage…so that less healthy and less responsible people can have their care paid for. Many of you were outraged at that reality. I ask you now to be outraged that those of us who have succeeded in life are paying for losers to buy cars and get solar panels. It’s all the exact same thing.

The social contract in America has been shredded. Decades ago we were coerced into accepting a variety of social services on the premise that those of us who do well have an obligation to help lift up those who are struggling (even though we were, then, as now, already the most generous people on the planet voluntarily). For the most part, America begrudgingly accepted the idea, hoping it wouldn’t be abused. Abuse doesn’t begin to describe the world we live in now. The original sales pitch was that only the wealthiest Americans would bear the burden of helping only the most downtrodden. Today, many of you in the middle class are stunned to find out that you’re apparently wealthy as you see every single form of tax on you raised. More concerning, you are not paying to “help people,” you are paying to save a planet that doesn’t need to be saved.