Soon, $1,400 dollar “stimulus” checks may arrive to millions of Americans. This comes after a previous $600 check and a $1,200 one prior to that. In the past several months, many Americans will have received over $3,200 in direct payments from Uncle Sam. One thing that these various checks have in common is that many financially struggling American’s waited tensely for news of their arrival. With each iteration, people tune in to Washington’s political theater. Google searches for the terms “stimulus check… Stimulus deal…when will stimulus checks arrive…” spike. Democrats and Republicans, Presidents, House Members, and Senators all take their turns grandstanding as the wheels of our democracy slowly turn.

It is all a show designed to get American citizens to buy into a few false premises: 1). That “the nice and caring government is going to send us some money to help us.” 2). Our chosen politician or political party is fighting to get us the money we need. 3). The government has money to give away. Let’s examine these ideas a little more closely. The problem with these premises is that the government produces nothing, the government does not earn money. The government can only confiscate money from productive citizens via taxation and the threat of violence.They then re-distribute this money as they see fit. Further, while the possibility does exist some politicians may care about some of their constituents, in most cases, politicians and bureaucrats don’t even know you. How could they possibly care about you?

Another motive behind sending a majority of the US population 3 direct payments in less than a year is to grease the wheels for the goal of getting the populace hooked on a Universal Basic Income. Several leading politicians have promoted the idea with great charisma and convincing over the past few years. A story in the Washington Post recently revealed a Democrat plan to send $250.00 a month per child payments to millions of American families.

Like the stereo-typical drug dealer, our politicians just want us to “have a little taste” of these payments knowing that many will come back wanting more. As of this writing, they provide these direct stimulus payments to individuals with no strings attached. That won’t last. Just as you have to behave in certain government approved ways to get tax breaks (have children, get solar panels, drive an electric car, etc) so will you eventually have to behave in specific government approved ways to be eligible for future direct stimulus checks or a Universal Basic Income. What machinations will our ruling class devise in order for us to receive these future handouts? What behaviors will get us a reward from our all knowing leaders? Proof of a COVID-19 Vaccination? Proof of an “acceptable” internet browsing history? Direct payments from the Federal Government are the crack cocaine of the ruling elite, and politicians and bureaucrats will clamor at the opportunity to be our dealers.

Proponents of direct payments to individuals from the federal government never stop to ask, how did so many Americans survive for over 200 years without these checks from the government? How did Americans survive through World Wars, a Great Depression, several recessions, and a 2008 financial crisis without this “help” from politicians? How did Americans build the greatest economic and military empire in the history of the world without these stimulus checks? The answer lies not in stimulus checks and the dependence they can create or in help from the government. The answer is in freedom, rugged individualism, and less government interference and regulation in people’s lives. When people are free to dream and innovate and to take risk and fail or succeed, they learn valuable lessons that not only strengthen the individual, they strengthen all of society and our entire economy.

Each time there is talk amongst the political class of a stimulus deal, we watch as politicians haggle over how much money will go out and who it will go to. Will we get a check too or do we make too much money? Will there be “direct payments” in this stimulus deal or will it just go to small businesses and the unemployed? If the President of the United States really wanted to get money into the Pockets of hardworking Americans, there is a great way to stimulate the economy without having to deal with Congress at all. Just as both President Trump and President Biden issued an executive order temporarily suspending the repayment of student loans, they could do the same thing with taxes. They could “deal” some freedom back to the American people.

The President could issue executive orders to the Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service suspending the collection of payroll taxes, income taxes, capital gains taxes, and the federal gasoline tax. The current federal tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. Suspending the collection of these taxes for 90 days would immediately allow people to hold on to more of their hard earned money and it would save weeks if not months of political theater and grandstanding.

Unfortunately, such an approach is unlikely to happen for several reasons. First, suspension of having to pay income taxes would let a dirty little secret out of the bag. The “rich” pay more in taxes than everyone else. According to a 2018 Bloomberg story, “the top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes than the bottom 90 percent combined.” Former Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney was correct when he infamously said that 47 percent of the American people pay no taxes. Second, whether it is a Democrat or a Republican, many politicians rely on fanning the flames of class envy as a method of pushing whatever their agenda is. Further, the government doesn’t want to awaken a significant change in the general populace. The political class knows that way too many people think they are “getting money from the government” when they get a tax return or a stimulus check. The truth that it was never the government’s money to give away in the first place is lost on most.

The majority of people don’t stop to think about the 18 cents per gallon that goes to the federal government every time they fill up the tank. We don’t inspect how much they take out of our paycheck each payday. If politicians in Washington gave us 90 days of a taste of getting to keep our own money, they know we would miss it once they eventually resumed collecting it. They also know that we might ask what the money is being spent on. These are questions that our rulers don’t want asked. Far safer it is for them to put on a show and send us a check.

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