Redistribution of Wealth

How To Talk To A Liberal: Big Government

/ warriorwoman91 / 1 Comment

What in the world do government and mistletoe have in common? Actually, quite a lot. Mistletoe is a parasite that sucks nutrients out of its host tree–I should know with how much is in my backyard. Usually the tree is large enough to handle the loss of some of its nutrients. However when the mistletoe grows so large that it takes more than the host tree can provide, they both ultimately wither and die.

The same story is true with government. In this case, government is the parasite that sucks finances in the form of taxes out of the private sector–again I should know since I pay all of my own taxes. Healthy economies maintain a small government that they can afford to sustain. However, current administrations, from Greece to Italy to the United States, have rapidly expanded their governments at the expense of their economies. As we look in the case of ancient Rome, the outcome of bloated government is the same as that of the bloated mistletoe tree:  death.

Just look at the 2013 government shutdown. 83% of government was still up and running, but who came to the rescue of the other 17%? Of course it was the private sector. Private charities stepped up to fund military death benefits. The RNC offered to fund the World War II memorial for 30 days. Whenever the government needs or wants something, it always turns to the private sector for more and more and more taxes. I’d say it’s time to trim the government mistletoe so we can have a healthier economic tree.

Keynesian Economics, and Why It Fails

/ warriorwoman91 / 3 Comments

Keynesian economics. You’ve probably heard the phrase before; it’s usually touted by liberals as the ultimate example of perfected economic policy. My college professor explained that Keynesian economics is the idea that the government should spend extra money when the economy is down in order to stimulate it, then cut back on spending when the economy is good. FDR used this model with his New Deal programs, as has the current president with his 2009 Stimulus Program (though both without ever cutting back on spending).

Well my 18-year-old brain was essentially mush at the time I entered college–not completely, but just about. I bought this ideology hook, line, and sinker…then. Now after 4 years of my own study in the school of common sense I’ve realized that my beloved college professor left half the story out of the lecture. The only way that government has any money is by taking it out of the private sector with the down economy, thereby making the problem worse. Certainly large government picks and chooses who gets the money as it sees fit, but it cannot produce more money–only a thriving private sector can do that.

With all this talk of governments spending money, Keynesian economics begins to sound very much like redistribution of wealth (see theft). Well here’s the bombshell:  it is. Keynesian economics follows the same idea that the government knows how best to spend money, and if it can only spend enough it will eventually stimulate a struggling economy. The big problem is that government spending has the exact opposite effect, dragging a slow economy into a worse and worse state. So it really doesn’t matter if you call it Keynesian, or redistribution, or Marxism–they all have the same economically destructive effect.