-By Warner Todd Huston
Or, how government is licensed theft.
Here is a perfect example of the destructive power of government. It is also a representative example of why it is a canard that government ever gives anything away for “free” as that so-called free gift inflicts pain on everyone under that government. In this tale Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has pulled a fast one on the people of Illinois. He’s agreed to a plan that hikes a tax that few people even know the existence of and he’s added his own layer of cost just to get old people in the city of Chicago to like him. In pandering to this tiny minority he’s skewered the entire state in general and the people of the six counties surrounding the people’s republic of Chicago in particular.
At issue is the bail out of Chicago’s mass transit system. Naturally, being a normal government program, it is a money losing, disorganized, union bloated, den of corruption and waste, but the leaders in the state capitol of Springfield (no better name for the comedy going on there than “Springfield,” just like the town in the cartoon “The Simpsons”) felt it necessary to infuse state funds into the backwards and failing transit system in Chicago. So, the state legislature came up with a bailout plan and sent it to the Governor to sign.
Upon reaching his desk, Governor Blagojevich decided to add his own tragiocomic aspect to this government fiasco through an amendatory veto. He decreed that henceforth all old folks will ride the CTA in Chicago for “free.” The great white Father has waved his magic wand and now all the old folk in the city have a new perk merely for having reached their golden years without becoming bedridden. No bus and train fares for grandma from here on out. Hoorah for the nanny state.
So, how the heck do we pay for the estimated 10 million dollars a year this “free” give away to the elderly will cost the CTA to provide? Why we will raise the real estate transfer taxes on the sale of the old folks’ homes, that’s how. This transfer tax is going to go from $7.50 per thousand dollars of the final selling price to $10.50 per thousand. Not to mention a sales tax hike and numerous other tax hikes.
Some “free” program!
Worse, this “free” ride for grandma will be doled out to anyone over retirement age quite regardless of whether that citizen can afford to pay their own way or not. That means the poorest citizens get a free ride right alongside the richest. Does that make any sense at all? I thought Democrats were only supposed to be for the “poor”?
Continue reading “Stealing From All to Give Freebies to Grandma”