Vox journalist wonders why 'free lunch' program had to end
Whenever I hear a leftist use the word "free" in the context of government programs, all that comes to mind is Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride:
If there were ever a snare for leftists, it would be the most rudimentary level of American civics — and left-wing reporter Anna North finds herself snagged and suspended in mid-air.
Published two days ago at Vox, North penned a report on the end of a federally funded student lunch program and lamented its end. What initially caught my attention was her continued use of a particular word: free. She opened her essay with this:
In 2020, when schools across the country closed to slow the spread of Covid-19, federal lawmakers did something unprecedented: They decided to pay for free lunch for every public school student in America, every day, no questions asked. Millions of children rely on free or reduced price meals at school[.] ...
The effect of the free meals was dramatic.
Um, I thought misinformation/disinformation was a crime?
First of all, "federal lawmakers" didn't "pay for free lunch" for anyone — they spent money America didn't have, and saddled the already overburdened taxpayer (like you and me) with additional debt. How much, you might ask? Well, $11 billion per school year, according to North.
Wondering what Ms. North's ingenious solution is? (Spoiler alert: more spending.)
But there's a simple fix, education and nutrition experts agree: make universal free school lunch permanent.
(Apparently, she's never heard the expression, "There's no free lunch.")
Left-wing journalists can't seem to grasp that government programs operate thanks to heavy taxation and whirring machines at the mint. They fail to understand that nothing is "free," and lawmakers don't "pay" for anything — and they really are that out to lunch (no pun intended) regarding the economic collapse that an ever-expanding welfare state invites. Yet they expect to be treated as trustworthy and intellectual. Only in Bizarro World, right?
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