Everybody, it seems, loves free money. Every city and town and almost every business and corporation is quick to apply for and take grant money when it's offered. And why not? It's free money! Right?
Well, not exactly. Imagine for a minute that I run a department store in your town -- perhaps even the only department store authorized to do business in your town. I charge pretty high prices because I like to make money and I'm not very efficient at keeping my business costs down, especially when I take "business trips" to nice, far-away places. But I want to keep my customers happy and coming back, especially should another department store open a few miles down the road. So what do I do? Instead of lowering my prices, I keep them high and sometimes -- especially before a big sale -- raise them. Then, when my customers come in and see the high prices, I give them 30 percent off and maybe even 50 percent off on some items to make them think they're getting a good deal on a high-quality product. But, since I give discounts on only some of the items and not everything, I still make a huge profit when customers buy a blouse or shoes to go with the skirt that was on sale, or when people buy batteries to run the electronic item I sold them at only a modest profit.
Does it sound fair? Yes, I know, businesses do it all the time. But is it fair to charge a higher price than necessary so that I can offer you discounts and cash back or second items at half off? Yet it works. Customers come for the sales and free stuff and don't realize they are paying for it by being overcharged on other items.
Let's shift our thinking to governments, especially big governments like those at the federal and state levels. It's no secret that governments get their money from taxes. They tax us when we work and make money, and they tax us when we spend money. If we own property, they tax us on what we own. Yes, the list goes on. And, of course, governments and government officials are not always the most efficient and best stewards of our tax dollars. Government officials like to travel and take working vacations at tax-payer expense. And they spend huge amounts on pet projects which tend to please campaign contributors more than the people they represent.
So how do our elected officials keep people happy with overtaxation and irresponsible spending? It's easy. Give back a little bit of the money in the form of government grants and the people will think their leaders love them, care about them and are working for their best interests!
One of the best examples we see regularly on a local level is the General Improvement Fund or GIF grants distributed by our elected state officials. By overtaxing the people, the state ends up with a surplus which is divided among elected officials to distribute pretty much at will, without an assembly vote, to non-profits and local government entities and to keep the people happy with their elected officials. After all, it's pretty hard to vote out a state senator or state representative who just gave your community or favorite organization thousands of dollars for a special project or need. Could it even be campaigning with your tax dollars? I know the answer but I'll let you decide.
Of course, the federal government does the same thing, giving grants and "free" money to almost everyone for just about anything, and a lot of that goes overseas to governments we probably wouldn't endorse. And unlike our state government, the federal government spends and gives away even more than it takes in, laying the burden of its indiscretions on our children and grandchildren. But, until it all crashes down, people are happy to take the "free" money being offered them to keep them appeased and willing to re-elect the scoundrels who ripped them off in the first place.
I don't know what the answer to the problem is because I don't know how to convince everyone to quit accepting this "free" money which comes out of my paycheck, and yours too, every payday. What is needed is a law to prevent our government officials from giving away public money to anyone, but to cut off all the grants and "free" money would be a sure-fire way to get unelected if a fellow ever made it into a government post on a platform of capping the leaky faucet in the first place.
At the very least, I'm hoping that people will wake up to the fact that the "free" government money isn't really free. It is ill-gained money taken by overburdening we, the people, with over-abundant taxation -- a fellow can't even die without someone getting charged taxes. It's used to keep the people happy and to have them in the political pockets of their leaders.
And when communities apply for grants or receive them, just remember that it's kind of like taking stolen money as a gift for a good cause. It makes the giver feel justified in stealing it and the recipient willing to overlook the thievery committed to take it from its rightful owners.
I wonder, too, how much individuals and local communities might be able to do for themselves and their communities if they weren't robbed and scammed by their government officials at every turn.
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 08/05/2015