The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 FREE GIVING VS. THE WELFARE STATE 111shelters, or to pass along his taxcosts in the form of higher prices.The easy road to great fortunesand the tax-free status of many ofour wealthiest persons are hallmarksof the welfare state. At theother extreme, the poor man,spending most of his income fornecessities, is locked into the cruelbind of tax and inflation. Whopays for the government's farmprograms? The only honest reply:"The poor people in the cities." Onthe other hand, farmers are impoverishedby rising costs of machineryand supplies due to governmentpampering of organizedlabor, plus the exorbitant taxesand interest which stem from theprofligate policies of a welfarestate. The true charge of Brahminismfits best those welfare policieswhich are designed to fastenthe individual to a place in an arbitrarycaste system of "benefits"while taxing away his chances ofsocial mobility.Failure of the current administrationto even begin to dismantlethe bureaucracy as promised indicatesa need for major surgery.When government officials, in somany cases, seem no more awareof fundamental economic law thanare their constituents, it is difficultto see how correction cancome. It usually takes a greatshock to shake a nation.into agrand decision. The blitz-bombingdid it to England. Catastrophic defeat. accomplished it in WestGermany and Japan. Such feats,as in England, are often ephemeral.The magic of Germany andJapan may well end in reaction.However, the debacle of 1929,which introduced our welfare stateand started a movement continuingto this day, is some proof ofour persistence, however perverse.Nevertheless, a steady growth ofconservative opposition, both inquantity and quality, has been apparent.Those who are rebuffed areobliged to pursue education andimprove their talents, while thosein power grow slack. It may wellbe that when the next shock comes,as it surely must, voters will beready to listen to the call to turnphilanthropy back to the people. ~IDEAS ONtrlh\W~D.LIBERTYWilliam Featheris better off, one which organizes a new upliftWHICH TOWNmovement every three months, or one which opens a new factory?The William Feather Magazine, December 1971