The Trap of Free Money
It’s ironic how many of us can see through the druger pusher’s trap: “You want a good time? The first one’s free!” We understand that the drug pusher is buying slaves, who won’t stop returning for more, and who won’t stop at theft, robbery, prostitution, or any other crime to get the money to keep buying the drugs. The pusher himself may be selling the drugs because he himself is a slave to them. We call this organized crime, and the organizers we call the mafia.
How is it that we see the trap in this scheme, but are totally blindsided by the scheme of “free money”? The money pusher says: “You need a little extra money to get by? (And who couldn’t use a little extra money?) Here’s some extra money to help you.” At this point, somehow we’re bewitched with the thought that we can be rewarded for producing nothing of value or doing nothing to add value to the lives of others. We’re not going to serve others; we’re going to serve ourselves from others. Like thoughtless children taking candy from strangers, we Americans take the “free money” without thought for where it came from, or why it’s being offered to us.
The sell: it’s the government tax money, and there are no stings attached? Is that how we run our foreign policy? Give money to foreign countries and expect nothing from them in return? Of course not! We pride ourselves on our “economic strength,” and push our economic weight around to accomplish what we want in the world. What about domestically? Do federal dollars come with strings attached? Of course they do! During the recent pandemic, federal funds were contingent on health facilities forcing their employees to get the jab/ By the Constitution, the federal government cannot force you without due process of law, so they simply used the threat of removing the “free money” to manipulate health facilities to manipulate their employees, thus accomplishing the very thing that is illegal for the federal government to do. There simply are no government dollars that come without strings attached. What makes you think there won’t be a cost to you later for taking the “free money”?
Cue the pious person: “Taxes are charity. We’re helping the poor. It’s the Christian thing to do/” Are you really calling it charity when the government asks you for money, and threatens to punish you with fines,imprisonment, wage garnishment, or worse if you don’t give it or not on time? I can picture here Marlon Brando (The Godfather) saying, “I’ll give you an offer you cannot refuse.” It’s not truly Christian giving unless you’re freely giving – without compulsion – above and beyond what is required of you, and particularly doing so out of faith in Christ’s salvation freely given to you, and out of love and gratitude to him. (Don’t be deceived; not everyone who claims to “care for the poor” really does. E.g., Judas in John 12:1-8.)
“Besides,” we’re told, “We are so wealthy that there’s plenty of money to go around/” The Modern Monetary Theorists (MMT) tell us there are no limits to how much we can borrow. Borrow and lend to your heart’s content. Let the revelries begin!
Therefore, we ignore the dangers of undisclosed strings attached. We don’t even ask where this money comes from. We take the “free money” bait; now comes the hook!
Where does the money come from? It doesn’t come from the government itself because the government produces nothing. The only things the government can hand out are the goods and services it has confiscated (whether justly or unjustly) from working Americans and businesses. All government handouts were first government takings. From whom is the government taking the “free money” it is handing out?
We’re told “The rich must pay their fair share!” If we steal more from the rich, then everone can prosper. What’s a fair share? The top 25% of Americans paid over 85% of all income taxes collected in 2018. The top 1% paid over 40%. By contrast, the bottom 50% of Americans paid less than 3% of all income Taxes. Right or Wrong, this demonstrates that we’re stealing from the rich to give to the poor. It’s a wealth redistribution scheme.
“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” (1 Timothy 5:18) Who deserves his pay? The one who works. That’s not just the manual laborer; it’s also the small business owner, the CEO of a large company, everyone who works. On what basis do we steal the fruits of one man’s labor to give to another man? Does the relative wealth of one man justify stealing the fruits of his labor? That’s not the teaching of Christianity; that’s Marxism. That’s the politics of envy and greed, the politics of Marx: When you see what you want, attack, villify, and condemn whoever has it until you own or control it. (I say this not as a rich man, for my family lives below the poverty line.)
However, legalized theft is not the only hook in this lure of “free money”. The crime is larger and more subtle. The total wealth of all US billionaires in 2021 was about $4.18T. The total federal revenue was about $4.1T, but the government spent $6.8T. That shows two things: 1) If you confiscated all the wealth of all our billionaires, it still wouldn’t touch one year’s federal spending – stealing more from the rich won’t solve our problems. Also, 2) put in layman terms, for every $1 collected in revenue, our government spent over $1.65. If they’re only taking in a dollar, where does the extra 65 cents (i.e., $2.7T) come from? Simply put: It comes from us, ordinary Americans, and our children.
I’m sure many of us realize that the extra 65 cents ($2.7T) is transferred to the backs of our children and grandchildren as debt to be paid in the future. But do you realize that we also pay it right now – today – through the hidden tax of inflation? Much of that extra money, created out of nothing, goes into the money supply, pushing up prices. What is worse is that we have engineered an economic earthquake with the pandemic shutdown. The shutdown decimated our national production. Many businesses failed due to the lockdowns and thereby we are all impoverished. Then, we exacerbated the situation by sending out “stimulus” money we didn’t have. More and more money chasing fewer and fewer goods. That’s the clear recipe for the inflation we are now experiencing: Cut production, increase the money supply, and you get a devalued currency.
Inflation is a hidden tax it is a regressive tax, that is, it disproportionately affects the poor. As food, fuel, energy, and housing prices increase, they eat up a larger portion of a poor man’s income, than of a wealthy man’s income. And, because of what’s call the Cantillon Effect, poorer people see the effects of increased prices before they receive the increased wages, and the wages never keep pace with the prices. Don’t buy the lie that inflation is good for poor people!
But what is even more insidious about inflation, is that it is a wealth transfer from the poor to the wealthy. Inflation transfers wealth from the poor to the wealthy through the transfer of buying power. We saw how inflation eats away at your savings. It also eats away at the debt wealthy people have on their assets. That is, their assets’ value increases relative to their debt; thus their wealth increases. That could happen for you, too, if you had assets. The wealth also gain from inflation because the income from their assets (e.g., rent) will increase with inflation, while their debt (e.g., mortgage) remains static. This is not insidious on the part of wealthy Americans; they simply understand how the game is played. But it is insidious on the part of the politicians and bureaucrats who push policies that lead to inflation – these are the money pushers. They understand exactly what they are doing!
Therefore, while the money pushers offer the poor man “free money” with one hands, they’re picking his pockets with their other hand – enriching themselves while claiming to care for the poor. It’s a Ponze scheme, and you are going to be the ones at the bottom, accepting all the losses. This is organized crime on a national level, and our politicians and bureaucrats have become the mafia. This is the trap of “free money”, and once they have you hooked on their drug, you are their slave, and you’ll do whatever they tell you just to keep the money flowing.
Wake up, America! It’s time to clean house, and reassert the Constitution. It’s time to elect representatives who will enforce the law, and prosecute those who are perverting it. It’s time to end the corrupt policies and bureaucracies that are fueling inflation. It’s time for us to quit the “free money” drug, and insist on honest work for honest pay/
Michael Pfleegor
Bloomsdale, MO
