What Do You Give Up To Get?

“Click here to win a free IPod!” “You may already be a winner!” “Enter to win a free vacation (or car, house, makeover, computer, etc).”  I see these offers quite often.  How often do your kids tease to enter a sweepstakes?  They respond to the perceived instant gratification of getting something they want for nothing without considering either the odds of winning or the consequences of their entry.  I am always skeptical of the odds of winning and the truth of the offer.  Read the fine print—odds of winning are one in many millions and substitutions may occur.  I believe the adage “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” so what do I have to give up to win? 

Fill out a sweepstakes card; you’re liable to end up with a pile of junk mail in your mailbox or never-ending sales calls.  Click on one of the links to enter a sweepstakes, at best your email inbox fills with advertisements and spam.  Worst case, your computer is infected with malware or a virus.  You give up your time and privacy for a “free” chance to win and one in a million odds.  People running for political office often make promises to prospective voters, hoping to win their votes.  Lower taxes, more jobs, better roads, more social programs; the list of promises is endless.  But what do these promises cost?  You have to give up something to get something.  Finances and resources are finite. 

I watched a segment of an old BBC documentary, “The World at War” about the rise of Nazi Germany prior to WWII.  A German citizen was asked how the German people could allow Hitler to come to power.  The gentleman responded, “He promised bread and jobs. As we had no bread and no jobs, we were desperate for both. It was only later that we learned the cost of the bread and the jobs.” Indeed, the cost of the bread and jobs, in addition to the six years of war, the millions of Jews and Germans killed, and the near destruction of Germany, was the loss of civil liberties.  As early as 1933, the Nazis began suspending civil liberties. The Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act stripped German citizens of the same rights that are protected by the US Constitution.  Although these rights were protected by the German constitution at the time, the Nazi Party suspended those rights at the cost of bread and jobs.

During the run-up to the US elections this November, candidates will make many promises.  Do you know the costs of those promises, above and beyond the monetary costs?  Of course, uninformed political decisions have much more dire consequences than the spam resulting from sweepstakes entries.  In your daily life, when confronted by seemingly free offers, ask yourself what do you give up to get?