We’re constantly told “There aint no such thing as a free lunch“.

Phooey!  There is, you know.  ‘TANSTAAFL’ was got about by the 0.1% who’ve made themselves billionaires by sucking on the teat of publicly-generated land and natural resource rents (including spectrum) for generations.

Many of we ‘lesser’ folk like to try our hand at rent-seeking, too, because that’s what the tax system directs us to do – but we’re small fry.  And of course it suits the 0.1% to have us believe we can make it like they did–ripping off our rents–too.

Cumulative effect of all this rent-seeking?  Booms and busts, and the occasional economic depression such as we’re now experiencing.

There certainly is such a thing as a free lunch. It’s the economic rent of our natural resources – and it belongs to the community as a whole, not to the 0.1%.