Whatever happened to limited government?
I鈥檇 like to take a moment to reflect on the notion of 鈥渓imited government鈥�.
With the latest election, the last four years in particular and the last decade or so in general, the concept of 鈥渓imited government鈥� seems to have become a relic of sorts, mocked by one side of the ideological spectrum, paid lip service to by the other but widely discarded overall.
It鈥檚 strange that such a basic concept could fall so far out of fashion鈥� as if it has no merit at all鈥� yet most 鈥渞easonable鈥� people must acknowledge that there are 鈥渓imits鈥� to what the government can and should do.
By 鈥渞easonable鈥� people, of course, I mean those who accept as valid the overall order of our society which seeks to balance the government 鈥減ublic interest鈥� with the individual 鈥減rivate interest鈥� and not those who occupy the extremes of the many philosophies who want nothing more than to radically reorganize everything (鈥ne way or another) from the ground up.聽
For example, every month over聽聽through the Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Food Stamps program for a total monthly cost of $6.28 billion dollars or $75.3 billion annually.
Now, given that this stipend is largely distributed to recipients via electronic credits through the widespread use of EBT cards (recipient accounts credited and credits transacted all electronically like credit cards), without incurring any additional administrative cost, the government could simply add another zero to the benefit bringing it to a monthly allowance of $1,334.20 per recipient and a program cost of $62.8 billion per month.
Why not do this? Wouldn鈥檛 this bring dramatic benefit to the lives nearly 50 million needy Americans?
Possibly you think that we simply cannot afford such a benefit BUT in an age of trillion dollar deficits, lack of revenue is hardly a limiting factor for government largesse鈥� the Federal Reserve simply increases the monetary base (i.e. tacks on a few more zeros to its own balance sheet), buys government securities (government bonds of one sort or another) and viola!
So again, why not simply increase the Food Stamps benefit by a factor of 10?聽
In fact, why stop there?聽 It鈥檚 just electronic blips鈥�. Why not add TWO zeros bringing the monthly allowance to $13,342.00 per recipient and a program cost of $628.0 billion per month?
Clearly this would go long way toward solving serious issues like income inequality and poverty not to mention the economic demand (鈥� along with Keynesian multipliers) that would be created by all that increased purchasing power.
So what鈥檚 wrong with this scenario?聽 Are there no limits?
