In order to pay for the stimulus checks, the “free” vaccines, the “free” COVID tests, etc, the US government had to print a lot of money. That freshly printed money made the money already in existence less valuable. When there’s more of something, it loses value. Dandelions aren’t nearly as valuable as diamonds.

Since a dollar is worth less, you need more dollars than before to buy the same thing. That’s called inflation.

I’ve made some calculations, and my single “free” vaccine shot has already cost me thousands. Knowing what we know now, wouldn’t we have preferred to pay $30 for the vaccines or the tests?

I don’t want to discuss the advisability of the vaccines right now but the issue of what these “free” things ultimately cost. We’ve lived with the Universal Basic Income (aka COVID stimulus checks) for a little over a year. And look at the results. We are all poorer and more precarious.

All kids’ activities in the area have become dramatically more expensive. The Aquarium in St Louis is now for rich people. We’ve been once, and are not planning to return because the cost is exorbitant. The local kid gym and trampoline park where we used to go without even wondering how much they cost became a rare treat.

I have a very good income, folks, and it’s still too expensive. If a tenured academic with a techie husband can barely afford it, there’s really something wrong.

The most annoying part is that these price hikes that punish parents are the result of the COVID policies that. . . also punished parents. Lockdowns wiped out kids’ activities, making the ones that remain very expensive. COVID stimuli created the inflation.