“Free” Stuff? But where does ‘stuff’ come from?

by Michael McCarthy, author of the Libertarian Thrillers The Noah Option and The Rainbow Option, on Amazon and Kindle.

We all hear the promises of “free stuff” from the current field of Democratic Party presidential candidates. “Free Healthcare! Free College Tuition! Free food! Free housing! Free transportation! Free childcare! Free freebies!”

There is an Italian proverb: “Tra dire e faire, Ce dentro il mare.” Between saying and doing, there lies an ocean. Between the promises of these Democratic Socialists and actually delivering, there lies an ocean of work: production and distribution. Venezuela has drowned in that ocean, because the Socialist Dictators and looters in power did not know how to navigate it. They did not want to navigate it. They, like all lazy socialists, took the shortcut of confiscating the ship “SS Capitalism” and expecting it to magically produce goods and services in perpetuity, without skilled engineers, workers and managers. For more on socialist “magical thinking, see my post titled “Never Grow Up! Socialism as Adult Temper Tantrum.”

Take the example of “free healthcare.” Take just one component, prescription drugs. How can these socialist congresspeople, who are not chemical engineers, pharmaceutical scientists, or pharmaceutical factory workers, give us all “free” pharmaceuticals? They don’t make drugs themselves.

Before anyone can give stuff as a “free” gift, they must obtain it. How? By purchasing it. A purchase requires money. Therefore, the item is not ‘free,’ it has a cost. Unless …? Unless you forcibly take it, a.k.a. theft.

To avoid outright theft of drugs from the pharmacy, these magical congressional shamans would have to make every stage of drug development and production free. Inspired by the great Leonard E. Read in his book “I, Pencil,” (available at FEE.org, the Foundation for Economic Education) I’ll trace out just a few of the steps necessary to develop and produce “free” prescription drugs.

1. Researchers must develop the drugs in a laboratory. This often takes years. These researchers now have now have to work for free. Who is forced to work for free? Slaves. Who will feed, house and clothe their families? We are back to government provided slave quarters.
2. A network of doctors must administer the experimental drugs in a closely monitored clinical trial. These doctors will now have to work for free. Who is forced to work for free? Oh… right, slaves. How will their families be fed, clothed, housed? Oh…right, slave quarters.
3. After years of clinical trials, a drug is judged safe and effective. Now it has to be manufactured. Who designs the manufacturing process? Chemical process engineers. These engineers will now have to work for free. Who works for free? Oh…slaves again. How will their families be fed, housed and clothed? Oh…slave quarters again.
4. Now the drug factory has to be built. Who builds it? Construction workers, steel fitters, carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers, roofers. Who will have to work for free. Forced to work for free? You got it, slaves again. Feeding, clothing and housing their families? You got it…slave quarters again.
5. Now a pharmacist has to order, properly preserve, and stock the drugs. A pharmacist who will have to … you guessed it, work for free, like a … slave. Who will feed, clothe and house her family? You guessed it, the slave owner, who is now: the government!

This is where “stuff” comes from!

These 5 steps of production and distribution are just a few of literally thousands of steps and people who work to bring you prescription drugs. A complex web of production and distribution that Cory Booker or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could never create or manage. But the “invisible hand” of the free market can, if we let it. The free market works, but not for free. However, leave it alone, and the free market makes “stuff” cheaper every year. A simple four function calculator that originally cost $100 now costs only $5.09 at Walmart and performs dozens of functions. This was not a government mandate, but the free market responding to competition and the desires of customers.

When you are forced to work against your will, the predictable result is that you produce just enough to get by, just enough to avoid punishment from your boss. Since slaves receive no pay, this is what they do. Economic historians of the slave economy of the old South have documented this.

In oil-rich Venezuela, under the socialist dictators, everyone is forced to work for pay levels dictated by the government, and buy/sell stuff for prices dictated by the government. De facto, they are slaves of the government. And like all slaves, they produce just enough to get by, and less if they can. That “less” is now starvation levels of nutrition. Under Venezuelan “free” healthcare, you have to bring your own food and medicine to the hospital. Newborn babies are placed in cardboard boxes. The electric power grid is on again, off again unpredictably. The generators are breaking down because there are no “free” replacement parts to repair them.

In the former USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), the cynical saying of the people was “they pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”

Whoever said “you get what you pay for” had it exactly right. When you get stuff for free, the stuff you get rapidly becomes worth … nothing. Ask any Venezuelan (except the elite and well fed minority of Socialist rulers.)

So when any politician promises you “free stuff,” remember where stuff comes from: people. The hard work of thousands of people who don’t want to work for …”free!” So don’t force them to. Don’t vote for “free stuff” politicians. When you vote for free stuff, what does that makes you? A slave-master. Let that sink in.