Whose money is it anyway?
If you ask the political class this question, they will, of course, tell you it’s your money they’re using. But is that how they treat it?
Notice how whenever they talk about tax cuts they talk about the cost.
Merriam Websters defines cost as:
- a : the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something : price
b : the outlay or expenditure (as of effort or sacrifice) made to achieve an object - loss or penalty incurred especially in gaining something
Notice how it’s all about paying, expenditures or loss incurred? So let’s ask ourselves this question: What is Congress paying or expending? I suppose they could consider it a loss or penalty if they assumed they are entitled to our money in the first place. What is Congress gaining in return though? Why, your vote of course! (Now doesn’t that make you feel cheap and tawdry?)
Have you ever noticed that when the political class is going to do something that does involve an outlay or expenditure, they don’t call it the cost, but an investment? If we go back to the dictionary we find that Merriam-Websters defines an investment as:
the outlay of money usually for income or profit : capitaloutlay; also : the sum invested or the property purchased
What money is Congress laying out? In the case of tax cuts, NONE. They are simply NOT taking your money. What is Congress’s return on this “investment”? If you said “their jobs”, you’re right. They have found that if they give “gifts” to their states and districts (AKA “Earmarks”, also known by the more catchy term “Pork”), you will keep voting them into office. There are two words I can think of for taking other peoples money toward a fictitious investment for your own personal gain… and one of them is “politics”! (The other–and you can look this one up for yourselves–is fraud. Just think Bernie Madoff!)
So when the political class talks about money, realize they act like it is theirs by right and you only get to keep what they say you can. Also remember that when they talk about cost, that’s merely what they are willing to allow you to keep out of what you’ve worked so hard to earn. And don’t forget, that for the political class, an investment is what they expect you to pay in order for them to take the credit and get the return.