Anyone who watched TV in the 1990s saw those annoying commercials featuring Matthew Lesko. This is the clown who wore suits with question marks all over them as he tried to sell his books telling people how to get “free” money from the federal government. I couldn’t stand the guy, not only because his commercials were annoying but also because he was teaching people how to siphon money from the federal government when we needed to shrink it.

My career in Washington, D.C., has revolved around keeping the United States’s fiscal house in order. Even before COVID-19 hit, we were on a precarious fiscal path because of an aging population and trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, as well as politicians who play the part of Lesko by looking to dole out “free” money that we simply don’t have.