I was talking to a friend of mine who works in the private sector and we both agreed that it is amazing how many free market, liberal, right wing, small government, “the state has never done anything for me “ business leaders; showed no reluctance whatsoever to fill their boots with free money when the Government offered it.
Some businesses have handed it back when they found that they did not need it but overall taking huge dollops of cash from poorly paid taxpayers and using to to prop up very rich peoples’ businesses has been very popular.
Since the economic consequences of just letting firms go bust at the time of a national lock down were huge this was the right thing to do. Unfortunately the pandemic spread so quickly the government and nearly all governments had little choice but to throw the money from a helicopter, rather than find out who really needed help and who didn’t.
But what I really hope is the next time these “government has never done anything for me” types start moaning, they might pause for thought. After all the state has just propped them up, just like it always does. Remember the state educates their workers, provides sick pay, unemployment benefits and pensions, builds and repairs the roads, in fact built nearly all the country’s infrastructure. It also runs a National Health Service, so firms don’t need to buy health insurance for their staff, runs the police, armed forces and the legal system to protect their firms and ensure they have the protection of the law and a dozen other things.
But, hey, it’s fine; we want and need them to make money, it’s how capitalism works and why the government spends so much supporting and subsidising firms. We really don’t mind, but please just spare use the “I did it all on my own” lectures.
https://jonty.substack.com/