Progressives went into a collective spasm of glee last week after Germany announced it would offer “free” college tuition to Americans and other international students.
Of course, in reality, free tuition does not exist.
The German government will forcibly confiscate money from one group of people and give it to another group i.e. theft. Here we have a classic example of Bastiat’s concept of “legal plunder.”
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.
Theft for a good cause is still theft.