TANSTAAFL

Robert Heinlein wrote a book called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.  It is about colonists of the moon, generations have been born there, before that it was as Australia was earlier in its history, a dumping place for criminals and political prisoners.  As a result they are a very self-reliant culture.

TANSTAAFL was a sign that some restaurants had on their walls.  It is noticed by a tourist who asks the hero what it meant and he told him: "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch."

He explained that the food on the bar was not free, but paid for by the higher price of the food.  The tourist was wondering about free air, but there on the moon air was paid for.  And so forth.

This culture that we have appears to believe that "There is Thing As A Free Lunch."  We feel that we deserve Free healthcare, we deserve Free unemployment payments.  The occupy movement bought this to the fore.  When interviewed by the press, they wanted Free tuition to college, Free places to live, Free everything.

Some quotes from The Moon is a Harsh Mistress:


That we were slaves I had known all my life — and nothing could be done about it. True, we weren't bought and sold — but as long as Authority held monopoly over what we had to have and what we could sell to buy it, we were slaves


Genius is where you find it


I'm no Marxist; we Fifths have a practical program. Private where private belongs, public where it's needed, and an admission that circumstances alter cases. Nothing doctrinaire.


A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as "state" and "society" and "government" have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals


Revolution is an art that I pursue rather than a goal I expect to achieve. Nor is this a source of dismay; a lost cause can be as spiritually satisfying as a victory


In past history popularly elected governments have been no better and sometimes far worse than overt tyrannies


Whatever you do, do not let the past be a straitjacket!


What I fear most are affirmative actions of sober and well-intentioned men, granting to government powers to do something that appears to need doing.