In fact, every time I talk to a person who isn’t a leftist, but who is supporting a socialist or redistributionist policy, they defend it on the grounds that it is free.
No exceptions. No economic justification or reasoning. No consideration of costs and benefits beyond asserting that either there are no costs, or the costs are trivial and will be borne by “the rich” (without explanation or justification).
Why would you not want to do it!? Do you hate the poor? You think they should have to work two jobs? You don’t think they deserve [free thing]? [Free thing] is a right! We can pay for it with [thing that can’t pay for it]!
Markets are a religion!
It’s pure, unadulterated magical thinking every single time, and it dominates public policy on a global scale.
The wealth of nations is more or less entirely a product of the degree to which they adopt policy on the basis that everything is free. Then, you folks attribute it to ”corruption,” unless you’re extremist lefties, in which case you blame America, and the influence of evil capitalists.