Its free at the endpoint for user. That's what the "free" means here. No one is pretending that resources for things like roads, police, firefighting, primary schooling and others come out of nothingness and don´t have any cost.

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crazygringo an hour ago | parent [-]

Exactly. What else are you going to call it, but free? That's literally the word for it.

Everybody understands that anything which is free is ultimately paid for by someone. And everybody understands that things provided for by the government come from taxes.

We don't need new words for basic concepts everyone already understands.

	▲	gfiorav 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I hope you were right, but I strongly suspect you are mistaken. Most people fail to understand: - Social welfare programs come at the expense of reducing everyone’s income. - The extent of the social welfare overspending is significant; we have long surpassed the point of helping those in dire need and are now funding numerous programs that, if fully understood in its long-term cost, would likely not be supported. - The top 5% of income earners contribute 90% of the welfare programs and are not “the greedy rich.” - The actual greedy rich do not have income and fund political campaigns, which is why politicians often conflate high-earners with the rich (to obscure the influence of interest groups) What would be a more accurate term than “free”? Subsidized. It may not be as catchy, but it provides a more precise description.