Don Boudreaux is continuing Bastiat’s noble tradition of teaching economics with ridicule:

As my friend George Leef points out in an e-mail to me, if government can lower firms’ costs by paying workers’ health-insurance premiums, why stop there? Why not have government also pay all expenses involved in hiring workers, including all wages? — and pay for all property, casualty, and liability insurance? — and pay for all raw-materials? — and pay for all capital equipment? — and pay for all R&D? — and pay for all advertising? — and pay for all production facilities and other real-estate used by firms? If government picks up the bill for all that firms produce, firms’ private costs can be pushed down close to zero!

Imagine, then, how “competitive” — how very efficient — American industry will become!

To resolve the paradox, you just have to remember that subsidies require taxes, and taxes are paid by people.