The Defamation Of Independence, Or Getting Nothing For Something

One of the great ironies of the way that politics and economics is conducted in our “modern” societies is that the great majority of those who are lured into going along with the game by the promise of “something for nothing” end up in a situation where their payoff is “nothing for something”.

A truism of the retail trade is that you get what you pay for. This means that REAL quality costs more than the run of the mill. It has to. It takes longer to make. It uses superior raw materials. It requires a higher level of skill from those making it. It lasts longer. And it does what it is supposed to do better. There are many people who cannot afford or do not want real quality. But there are also many others who stridently maintain that there is no such thing as “quality” and that the widget that they paid $50 for is “just as good” as the one in the shop across the street that cost you $100.

There is great wisdom in the old adage that you should buy the best you can afford. If the item is vital to your well being or your livelihood, stretch what you can afford as far as it will go. But the operative word here is “afford”. Nowadays, people don’t look at the price tag, they look at the limit on their credit card(s). If they are buying a house, they don’t look at the cost of the house - and the mortgage - they look at the required down payment. They don’t look at what is left over after they have made the purchase. They think about “owning” the item. They don’t think about paying for it.

The old “buy now - pay later” - attitude leads to a lot of woe when the ability to pay dries up for whatever reason. Bad as that can often be, there is something much worse. That is the acceptance of the claim that government-run economies and welfare states hide behind - the claim that it is possible to get “something for nothing”. Everybody knows that this just ain’t so. But they see what appears to be people getting something for nothing all around them so they decide that it must “work” - somehow.

What the last five years has begun to teach an ever greater number of people is that those who succumb to the siren song of “something for nothing” end up with “nothing for something”. It’s a mugs game.

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