Parasites are everywhere! They take your money and your freedom. Here's our show:
POLITICAL PREDATORS: Capitalism is great because it's voluntary. Most of the time, people get rich by helping others. But there are some who use government to force people to give them money. David Boaz of the Cato Institute calls this the "parasite economy."
BEACH HOUSE BAILOUT: I was once a parasite myself... I fed off you. The government encouraged me to be a parasite, and I took the bait when I built a beach house on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Today I'm smarter and realize this was a scam.
LEGAL PARASITES: Personal injury lawyers are high on my list of the worst kind of parasites. They get rich while doing harm and then claim they are helping us. Often they get 40% of the take!
EATING AWAY AT EDUCATION: Years ago, these protestors came after me because I criticized the teachers union and its 200 pages of rules:
Kids learn less in school because public schools are a government monopoly, and government monopolies don't serve their customers well. Charter schools offer an improvement, but they threaten the teachers union.
MY TAKE: For most of history, "experts" said leeches could cure disease. They couldn't really (George Washington died after doctors left leeches on him for 10 hours.) But using them made the experts feel like they were doing something. Similarly, when politicians pass endless rules and spend other people's money, they feel good. They're doing something. But they are parasites.
