Welfare Chic: Not Just For Poor People Anymore
You on the dole? If not, well, how wildly unchic of you. Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes in the WashEx about our moocher culture, laid out in Charles Sykes' new book, A Nation of Moochers: America's Addiction to Getting Something for Nothing
"Fifty thousand for what you didn't plant, for what didn't grow. That's modern farming -- reap what you don't sow."That's a line from a song about farm subsidies, "Farming The Government," by the Nebraska Guitar Militia.
But these days it applies to more and more of the U.S. economy, as Charles Sykes points out...
The problem, Sykes points out, is that you can't run an economy like that. If you tried to hold a series of potluck dinners where a majority brought nothing to the table, but felt entitled to eat their fill, it would probably work out badly. Yet that's essentially what we're doing.
In today's America, government benefits flow to large numbers of people who are encouraged to vote for politicians who'll keep them coming. The benefits are paid for by other people who, being less numerous, can't muster enough votes to put this to a stop.
Over time, this causes the economy to do worse, pushing more people into the moocher class and further strengthening the politicians whose position depends on robbing Peter to pay Paul. Because, as they say, if you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can be pretty sure of getting Paul's vote.
But the damage goes deeper. Sykes writes, "In contemporary America, we now have two parallel cultures: An anachronistic culture of independence and responsibility, and the emerging moocher culture.
...And, after a while, people who pay their bills on time start to feel like suckers. I think we've reached that point now:
* People who pay their mortgages - often at considerable personal sacrifice - see others who didn't bother get special assistance.
* People who took jobs they didn't particularly want just to pay the bills see others who didn't getting extended unemployment benefits.
* People who took risks to build their businesses and succeeded see others, who failed, getting bailouts. It rankles at all levels.
And an important point of Sykes' book is that moocher-culture isn't limited to farmers or welfare queens. The moocher-vs-sucker divide isn't between the rich and poor, but between those who support themselves and those nursing at the government teat.
That it isn't a rich/poor divide is best illustrated by checking out which people get farm subsidies -- which Manhattan-dwelling swells, that is. There's even a Rockefeller on the list! Lookie, lookie at this link.
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