Selling an end to subsidies

Here's how a politician, if one wanted to (and none do because selling our power to special interests is how they advance their own careers), could convince the American people, including the special interests, to end all subsidies.

Imagine that 26 special interests in the country received $1 billion subsidy. Call the special interests A-Z. When the government gives a $1 billion subsidy to special interest A, special interest A is winner. It's a winner of a $1 billion.

But special interests B-Z and the general public together are all losers of $2 billion. That's because the first takes $1 billion out of the pockets of the B-Z special interests and the general public, making the $1 billion losers. Then the government uses that $1 billion to pervert the economy in favor of special interest A at the expense of special interests B-Z and the general public, costing us an additional $1 billion.

Then the same thing happens with special interest B. Special interest B is a $1 billion winner, but special interests A and C-Z and the general public are $2 billion losers. Same with C-Z. You can see that by the time we're done, every special interest has won $1 billion, but they've lost $50 billion while the general public is a $52 billion loser.

But we don't have only 26 subsidy programs. The US has 1,804 subsidy programs. So even the special interests which win once are losers 1,803 other times. Subsidies turn every American into a big-time loser.