By Jim Whitt Contributing Editor
In the words of Scottish economist Adam Smith, “There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.” This is an art that our government has perfected. In all fairness, there are many governments that perfected this art long before the United States. Under the guise of equality and fairness they created various forms of socialism and communism to more effectively drain money from the pockets of their people, dooming them to a life of poverty. When their people finally reach the point of hopelessness, they load their meager belongings on their backs and risk their lives to tread a tortuous path to what they believe is the last bastion of freedom in the world — the United States.
Our country must seem like utopia to these people. We encourage them to cross our borders illegally and reward them with free food, free hotel rooms, free cell phones and free credit cards. They are even allowed to vote in some cities. What they don’t realize is that this is all paid for by draining money from the pockets of U.S. citizens whose ranks they will likely join via amnesty granted by our government.
Perhaps one day in a few years they will wake up and realize they have been lured into a spider web that strangely resembles the one from which they escaped. Our government will then start draining money from their pockets to pay for socialist policies that their former governments implemented to enslave them to a life of poverty. Of course, the fly never learns of the spider’s intentions until it’s too late.
Since these policies are paid for through the confiscation of our money through taxes, the cost is never fully realized until the bill comes due. “Annual budget deficits doubled to $2 trillion over 2022–23 and are headed toward $3 trillion a decade from now,” according to a recent Manhattan Institute study. “Social Security and Medicare face a combined $124 trillion cash deficit over the next 30 years. The national debt is projected to soar past 165 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) within three decades — or as high as 300 percent of GDP if interest rates remain elevated and Congress extends expiring policies.”
Of course, the fly never learns of the spider’s intentions until it’s too late.
Now for the sticker shock – payment on the interest alone will consume 75 percent of tax revenue. “In short, Washington is on a totally unsustainable fiscal path, and a debt crisis is coming,” says budget expert Brian Riedl. I beg to differ. The debt crisis is not a future event – that train left the station decades ago.
So where should the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free go to escape the web of the socialist spider? Rainer Zitelmann, a German historian and sociologist, commissioned a survey in 34 countries to determine citizens’ opinions of capitalism. Zitelmann shared a summary of the survey in an article entitled “What Most People Do Not Know About Capitalism.” This statement, “Capitalism has improved the situation of ordinary people in many countries,” was selected by only 27 percent of respondents in the United States. But in Vietnam, the statement was selected by 74 percent of the respondents.
Here’s why according to Zitelmann: “With a per capita GDP of $98, Vietnam was the poorest country in the world in 1990. The strong support in Vietnam for the thesis that ‘Capitalism has improved the situation of ordinary people in many countries’ shows that the Vietnamese have had very good experiences with market economy reforms. Poverty in Vietnam has gone from being a majority problem to a minority problem. As late as 1993, 79.7 percent of the Vietnamese population was living in poverty. By 2006, the rate had fallen to 50.6 percent. In 2020, it was only 5 percent.”
It’s a sad commentary that Vietnam is becoming more capitalistic while the United States is becoming more communistic. Before we completely succumb to the siren song of socialism, we should heed this warning from Mary Howitt’s proverbial poem:
And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne’er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.
