…and many vote.
Picture this: A fictional (but not as fictional as you might presume) politician takes the podium and says:
“If you elect me, I’m going to have the government borrow money in your name. We’re going to keep some of the money to fund programs and jobs to reward our friends and family with overpaid positions, but we’ll send some of it to you. Now, you’ll be on the hook for the full loan amount, even though you’ll only receive part of the proceeds. But don’t worry; we intend to tax your neighbor to make most of the payment (Shhh! Don’t tell them until after the election!). In any event, you’ll have money in your pocket now if you vote for me.”
How many of you would vote for a politician under such a promise? How many of you won’t realize that they’ve said the same thing to your neighbor, who is expecting you to make the payments on this loan? How many (or few…) would laugh this moron off of the stage?
Well, we’ll find out soon. President-elect Biden just made this promise to the residents of Georgia in an attempt to win two critical Senate runoff elections there:
Sadly, our education system has failed to teach citizens the basics of economics. Given the lopsided representation of the political parties in the education system (by a 2:1 margin), maybe this deficit in knowledge is by design? Unfortunately, the promise of other people’s money will probably win the Georgia senate races for the Democrats.