It’s true: for a con game to work, it does take two — the sharper and a willing gull — but the problem is, the government con game has become so institutionalized over time that we can’t easily tell where its actions and our own reactions begin or end.

So when the government’s various reports on “poverty,” “homelessness,” “food insecurity and food stamps,” and insufficient “health care” (to name but a few) get hyped to the skies by the credulous media, some people don’t know whom to blame.

Bill Bonner believes he knows — and we quote in full:

. . . we ask ourselves: how could the most sophisticated, most dynamic, best capitalized, high tech enhanced capitalism in history produce such an outcome?

The answer is simple: capitalism doesn’t give you what you want. It gives you what you deserve. And it usually does so with such a long delay that few people connect cause with effect.

Instead, they rant and rave. They blame the rich. They call for more regulation. More distribution. More handouts, subsidies, and bailouts.

They demand that the feds ‘do something!’…not realizing that the feds — more than anyone else — are responsible for their misery:

The feds tricked them into spending more than they could afford — with artificially low rates and EZ credit.

The feds loaded them up with mortgage debt — thanks to their federally subsidized mortgage industry.

The feds practically invented sub-prime mortgage debt; and directed lenders towards the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the society.

The feds enticed old people into complete dependence — with the Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare programs.

The feds led the young into debt too — with easy student loans that effectively transferred money from them to the education industry.

The feds jimmied the health system into such a mess that Americans now spend 45 times as much as Cubans … and have the same life expectancy.

The feds’ funny money system caused the export of millions of good jobs to emerging markets.

Rise up, ye debt-trodden masses! Rise up against your real enemy: the feds. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Read Bonner’s Daily Reckoning article here.