Free Stuff Isn’t Free
BY TYLER DURDEN
THURSDAY, OCT 28, 2021 – 04:27 PM
Authored by Cal Thomas via The Epoch Times,
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It’s open enrollment season for Medicare.
Local TV stations and cable networks are flooded with ads for various insurance supplements. They promise “free” dental care, free transportation to doctors, free drugs, free dentures, and lots of other free stuff.
Paid spokespersons speak of “benefits” and “entitlements.”
They say subscribers could receive as much as $100 a month back into their Social Security checks.
Even the phone number to call to sign up is “absolutely free.”
Read the small print and you’ll find that some of the plans vary by region, some by ZIP code. Sometimes there’s a nominal cost, so it’s not actually “free.” Call a “licensed” insurance agent for more details. Licensed by whom? Probably the companies selling the plans.
Some of the ads pay aging celebrities like quarterback Joe Namath, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and comedian Jimmie Walker to pitch their products.
Notice the use of certain words and how they also are used by politicians to dupe people into believing they are not getting what they “deserve” because “the rich”—those predatory, stingy, and greedy people—are not paying their “fair share” in taxes.
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TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” From Robert Heinlein’s classic)
And, all you have to do is follow the money.
That commercial is paid for by somebody somehow. Like those “charity” commercials that beg for “pennies a day” or “19 dollars per month”, someone is paying for those slick commercials too. AND, do you think those old “celebrities” are doing the commercial out of the goodness of their hearts because they “care about you”? (If you do, I have bridge or two for sale!)
“Seen and unseen” occurs to me as I tap out this post. {What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen1 By Frederic Bastiat Abridged version for Common Sense Economics}
Imagine for a moment that when LBJ created “Social Security” that the nation would have rallied in opposition to it and insisted that the Gooferment was not Constitutionally to do this wealth transfer. There were good economists who predicted all sorts of bad future effects. My uncles, sitting around the dinner table, would argue about it and what I would come to understand as “the moral hazard”. Old relatives were taking their “social security checks” and moving from the old neighborhoods to Florida. They were on the take of the Democratic “dole” and would never vote to take away or reduce “their social security”. Hell, they even demanded it increase because “how could some one live on such a small check”! Argh! The Democratic politicians and bureaucrats created the first “self licking ice cream cone” of votes.
From there is was a short putt to put EVERYONE on the dole in one way or another (i.e., “welfare”; Medicaid; Medicare).
Reinke Faces Life 