Consequences of the welfare state

“The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else.”

Fredric Bastiat’s words could not have been more relevant right now. With the nation in economic despair, people across the nation are losing their jobs as some businesses are forced to cut costs or shut down. The government’s response to unemployment is to subsidize workers who don’t have jobs with money to help pay their bills. These welfare benefits, though, are only encouraging irresponsible behavior just like the Fannie and Freddie backings did in the housing market and just like most other government interferences in the market do. This video really shows the destructive side of socialism, the side which Bastiat so lucidly points out:

There is 11.5% unemployment in that town, yet this guy can’t find enough workers. It is ridiculous and it is a sad reflection of our society which is driven by the government and its welfare policies. These policies subsidize those that don’t work, hence efficiently taking away the driver to work for many people. Those that do work are taking these lazy people on their backs and supporting them and it will only last so long. As history has shown, the welfare state does not work and this is a large reason why.

Some may claim that this sort of work is not going to be done by business men and people of “higher social status,” but I guarantee that the day they start to starve they will be willing to do any sort of work in order to support themselves and their families. Any human will do what is necessary in order to survive- it is instinct. The government only provides a socially destructive benefit that takes away that instinct and makes people think they are “too good” to do certain jobs. Ironic how the people for equality actually create this sort of class separation, isn’t it?

This nation needs to instill personal responsibility into the people once more by returning to what it used to stand for- small government, freedom, and free markets. It needs to move away from the welfare state. The words of Bastiat ring loudly today, but sadly, if the Obama administration has its way, then his words may be even louder tomorrow.

Adult industry asks for bailout

Hustler publisher Larry Flynt told reporters today that they will be asking Congress for a 5 billion dollar bailout, stating that they too have been hit hard by the recession. A spokesperson for Flynt added that everyone is asking for bailouts, so why not the porn industry?

Some are taking these statements seriously, while others are playing it off as a joke. But, whatever the real intention behind the motion is, Flynt has made a point (whether or not he wanted to make it.) And a very good one at that. It is something that true free market capitalists have been making all along: when does this trend of bailouts end? Is the government seriously willing to prop up any failing institution with money that they don’t have? And if so, how is this capitalism at all? It is not. It is government intervention and socialism. The bailouts are a trend that is not sustainable and not practical and it needs to change.

The flaws of socialism

With the Obama administration making its final preparations to take over, there is a lot of discussion about socialism in the future of America. Socialism is a socio-economic system in which a governing body is meant to divide the resources and wealth of the land evenly amongst the people. It is essentially the redistribution of wealth, in one form or another. While it may sound good at first, the long term effects are disastrous to the freedom of the people and to the financial state of the government and/or people. We must fight to stop socialism or we risk creating a very bad situation for future generations.

So why is socialism so disastrous? Because it requires the intervention of government in our lives and the markets, whether it be in the form of taxes, regulations, or restrictions. Everyone is required to adhere to these regulations regardless of whether or not they will actually be benefiting from the redistribution of wealth. Those who don’t benefit are losing their money for no good reason. Advocates of socialism may say that this is fair, since someone who is less fortunate benefits from the redistribution. While this may be the case at first, socialism ends up hurting even the less fortunate in the long run because the burden on the successful grows so much that the help they could provide is also limited. Furthermore, should we really punish the successful in order to level the playing field? Should their hard work go to waste?

The notion of a redistribution will also make some people lazy because they will be receiving everything for free regardless of whether or not they work. This will put all of the monetary burden on the working class, which will slowly begin to diminish as people no longer see the point in working since their profits merely go to the state and they end up with the same amount of money regardless of whether or not they work. Once this idea spreads, the country starts to become poorer and the socialist system eventually goes bankrupt. This in turn makes the government bankrupt, as it backed the socialist system. At this time the government has no money and neither do the people, since they both paid it into the socialist system. There is the end of that government as revolution is sure to come soon. A very prevalent example of this trend is with the social security crisis. The program is on pace to go bankrupt soon, so the government will either have to take massive amounts of debt to pay out to its members or they will have to end the program and virtually steal the people’s promised money. This is why we need to end social security and move away from other such programs.

Not only do they not work, but money is lost in the transition from people and the private sector to the government (in the form of taxes) and back to the people (in the form of socialist programs and welfare) due to the costs of bureaucracy. Also, what happens if inflation takes place? The amount of money won’t change, but what the government can buy with it does. What happens when the government can’t pay for what it promised (yet it still taxed for it)?

As Americans we need to understand the evils of socialism. We need to understand that in the long run socialism creates more problems and questions than it solves. It may seem good at first glance, but in the end it will ruin us. Socialism will not only ruin our economic state, but it will limit our freedoms. Imagine that, massive limits on freedom in the land of freedom.

Socialism is the opposite of capitalism, the economic system which this country and any free country is built around. It hurts the people and the government and through the regulations it places, also business. We need to spread the word that socialism does not work and that we don’t need government to treat us like infants. We can provide for ourselves; we don’t need the government taking our money and placing restrictions on us in exchange for services that we can purchase ourselves.