Wednesday, August 12, 2020

The Grand Subsidy

The rich have money to lend. Borrowers find this useful; they are willing to pay for this "money rental" service. As a result, even the unproductive rich can collect an income indefinitely as long as spending is less than interest - inflation. (Spending needs to include taxes, BTW.) Many find the arrangement to be unfair. But fear not! Our government is one of the borrowers, adding over a trillion dollars on the demand side for money rental services. Deficit spending is a subsidy for the rich!

And that, dear readers is the big takeaway for this blog. For all the welfare programs, social insurance, progressive taxes, and regulations, we have a honkin big "secret" subsidy hiding in broad daylight: deficit spending.