Theft at the Public Till
chip in. Each one thinks, "Someone else can worry about filling potholes. I'll let other people fix the road, and then I'll be able to use it for free." If enough people think that way, the road never gets repaved. The problem here is an ancient one, namely that people try to ride for free if they think they might get away with it. It involves what economists call public goods: goods (or services) which everyone can enjoy even if only one person takes the trouble to pay for them. Roads are one classic example; national defense is another. The classic Solution is for a majority to require everyone to contribute to road-building and national defense, through taxes. Otherwise, too few roads would be built and too few soldiers recruited, because too many people would wait for someone else to do the building and recruiting. But the classic solution in our society has been turned on its head, those interests that can capture the mechanics of government for even a second have the means of free riding on the backs of all the rest of us. The fact is that all interest groups, without exception, claim to be serv- ing some larger good, and almost all believe it. And all groups, without exception, are lobbying for more of whatever it is that their members want, generally at some expense to non-members. By the same token, every single law, regulation, subsidy, and program creates losers as well as winners, and whether you think justice is served depends on who pays when the bill is due.
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