How is it possible for human beings to believe government actions and programs are “free?”
I recently read an announcement that piqued my interest very briefly. It wasn’t the news that grabbed my attention, but the choice of words used to explain it. What I read was just another common mischaracterization of events. This was the announcement – see if you can spot the problems with it:
If you noticed what I did, then congratulations are in order. You have neither remained oblivious nor succumbed to horrible political rhetoric or propaganda. If you were not able to see the problem with this announcement, then there is work to be done.
Here is the image again. Pay close attention to the parts that have been underlined:
You’ll notice in this image that the author has either decided to ignore or simply doesn’t understand that agencies like NASA are funded by taxes. Ignoring this fact and publishing the headline makes it quite deceitful. Not understanding this fact in the first place simply makes him a “useful idiot” for purposes of government propaganda. I don’t assume that everything is done with malicious intent, but to claim that anything a government does is “free” requires either a significant amount of ignorance in both politics and economics, or it is an attempt to purposely misrepresent the facts in order to continue advancing one’s political beliefs or agenda.
Age-old wisdom bears repeating: Nothing in life is free.
We read and hear these types of statements constantly. Bernie Sanders was a huge proponent of more “free” programs during his run for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. It’s likely ingrained into the political beliefs of at least half of the population in the United States. The demands never stop.
“FREE healthcare!”
“FREE education!”
“FREE retirement!”
“FREE housing!”
“FREE phones and internet!”
“FREE everything!”
It would be hilarious, if it weren’t so tragic. I ask myself, “How do human beings not understand something so simple to grasp?” But I already know the answer: it was the “free” education. (That’s an unfair stereotype, I know. There are plenty of people who have paid for private education and apparently received the same poor quality in return.)
Joking aside – this is a perception of government that benefits nobody under its rule. Nothing that a government does is without cost. Every penny that is used by politicians and the agencies and programs they create must come from somewhere else. Even if politicians allocated no money whatsoever to those agencies and programs, there would still be costs associated with paying the politicians. A government in general acts as nothing more than an administrator. They do not produce – they consume. They forcibly consume and reallocate wealth that is created by non-government actors. Money that is taken from those who are productive and actively generate wealth in “private” markets is redistributed – through multiple levels of bureaucracy – to the programs of the administrators’ choice.
A government cannot offer free healthcare to anyone seeking it. A politician or bureaucrat is not a doctor. They cannot treat you for an infection, a broken arm, an eye injury, or cancer. If you want care, then you must go to a doctor. They will present you with a course of treatment that you’ll need and the costs will be determined accordingly. Only the doctor can offer you free healthcare – and only for the services that they can actually provide.
If a politician is truly promising free healthcare to everyone, then he must have a way to pay – without any costs to any individuals – the doctors, nurses, insurance providers, and anyone else involved in the markets. If none of these individuals are being compensated for their services, then they are left without income and with no incentive to continue providing those services. But we know that doctors, nurses, insurance providers, and anyone else involved in those markets are being compensated – even the ones that allegedly provide this care “for free.”
There is a cost – and you are paying it.
Assuming that you’re not even paying income taxes, there is still a cost to you as an individual for any product a government claims to provide. You may not be taxed on your income, but nearly every other good or service that you seek has an associated tax burden built into its price. Business owners pay income and/or corporate taxes and the goods that they acquire for their business likely come from another business that also pays income and/or corporate taxes. Plus there are other taxes and fees that need to be paid to local municipalities, states, and the federal government.
All of this translates into higher prices for you, the consumer.
When a government tells you that they want to offer you “free” anything, it should be understood that this “free” good or service will be funded by some form of taxation or fees. As administrators, that’s their only option for generating the funds necessary to pay the people who are actually providing the “free” product to you, the consumer.
Because you are not bearing the full cost of a desired product as a consumer, it does not mean that you are receiving those goods or services at no cost. In fact, as is often the case with the products that are government-administered, you are almost guaranteed to receive inferior goods and services at inflated prices. This generally applies across the board, as we can readily observe with agencies such as the local Division of Motor Vehicles, the United States Postal Service, public school systems, and even law enforcement – where the price we pay is being harassed, physically abused, and even killed because of inferior service due to a lack of accountability and economic incentives.
If you truly want free healthcare, then you must ask a doctor, nurse, or insurance provider to offer their services free of charge. If you truly want free education, then you must ask a teacher to instruct you free of charge. Asking a government to provide you with “free” anything is asking them to forcibly take someone’s money (via theft or extortion, due to lack of consent), give it to another person, and have that person then provide you with what will ultimately be (in practically all cases) an inferior product.
No, science is not exempt from the process.
Returning to the case of NASA – which is funded by the same tax dollars that fund any other government agency or program – we can now read the headline again, with the proper corrections made to it.
The researchers at NASA work for compensation. Government administrators pay them from the money that is acquired through taxes and fees. You are the one paying those taxes and fees. If they’re creating a new web portal to give you access to the research conducted, then someone needs to create and manage that web portal – which requires an individual working for compensation that then requires payment from the administrators, and in turn, necessitates additional taxes and fees paid by you.
None of this is free.
I’m not against scientific research and I’m not against the research being shared, especially when I’m already paying for it involuntarily. It’s great that the research that is funded by people like you and me will now be available to be viewed by us. What’s not great is that I’m being extorted in the first place to pay for these scientists and administrators, then I find myself reading headlines telling me that they’ll graciously allow me to see the results of the extortion-funded research – for only a somewhat marginal cost to everyone who has already been extorted.
Now some people might be asking, “Well, what do you want them to do?” My obvious answer to this question is:
Stop extorting me.
I’ll continue to remain hopeful that every individual can eventually understand or accept this answer by realizing that nothing a government does will ever be free.