I normally share this comedy skit every Halloween, but let’s go for a change of pace and peruse this video about the government’s awful system of sugar subsidies.
But we do some appropriately themed humor, thanks to the satirists at Babylon Bee.
It’s Halloween, which means trick-or-treaters are beginning to flood the streets of cities and towns all across the country in a beloved tradition. Children joyously knock on doors and receive candy at most of the houses in their neighborhood—most of the houses, that is,
except for that of Bernie Sanders. …he pulls out his large bowl of candy, reaches his hand out, and takes from the children who have a lot of candy, placing their “donations” into his bowl for later redistribution to the less fortunate. …Of course, the senator doesn’t provide his redistribution services for free: he takes a “small tax” out of his collection before carefully redistributing the candy based on his fair and equitable Candy Plan, which he draws up every year. At publishing time, Sanders still couldn’t figure out why kids kept avoiding his front door altogether.
We’ll close with a more serious point about Halloween, courtesy of Kerry McDonald’s column for the Foundation for Economic Education.
Several cities and counties have placed an outright ban on children’s trick-or-treating due to COVID-19 fears, while others are strongly urging families to forgo the practice. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises individuals and families to spend this Saturday at home, alone (masks optional).
…Springfield, Massachusetts was one of the first places in the US to ban trick-or-treating. In September, the mayor canceled all trick-or-treating in the state’s third largest city, saying it was a “no-brainer.” …The Republican governor of Massachusetts, Charlie Baker, pointed out the potential unintended consequences of banning trick-or-treating… Baker explained that “the reason we’re not canceling Halloween is because that would have turned into thousands of indoor Halloween parties, which would have been a heck of a lot worse for public safety.” …bans and restrictions also punish children and young people whose mental health and emotional well-being are increasingly deteriorating under dystopian isolation policies. This year, these policies are the spookiest things about Halloween.
