"The CARES Act has created a moral dilemma for those Americans who value freedom. The pandemic has cost them their jobs, their (1/11)

savings, their businesses. And they blame a significant part of this loss on the government. But because they oppose government (2/11)

handouts, they worry that accepting CARES money would be a breach of integrity. At the Ayn Rand Institute, we are dedicated to (3/11)

philosophic principle. And because we are, we will take any relief money offered us. We will take it unapologetically, because the (4/11)

principle here is: justice. To see why, focus on a fact that everyone seems determined not to know: government has no wealth of (5/11)

its own. Private philanthropists like Jeff Bezos and the Bill Gates Foundation can and do own wealth that they give in charity. But (6/11)

the government has no funds of its own. It can only redistribute the wealth of others. Government cannot provide help, it can only (7/11)

force others to provide it. What the government would giveth, the government must first taketh away. The $2.3 trillion in (8/11)

“relief” going to some people means $2.3 trillion ultimately drained from savings — their own and the savings of others. The (9/11)

government doesn’t run farms or factories. It’s not a producer. Thus rather than being mesmerized by its shower of checks and paper (10/11)

dollars, consider the actual goods and services the government funds will be spent on."

(11/11) Read more: https://newideal.aynrand.org/to-take-or-not-to-take/