THE END OF THE AGE OF ENTITLEMENT
JOE HOCKEY’S SPEECH TO THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, LONDON
…Let me put it to you this way: The Age of Entitlement is over.
We should not take this as cause for despair. It is our market based economies which have forced this change on unwilling participants.
What we have seen is that the market is mandating policy changes that common sense and years of lectures from small government advocates have failed to achieve.
via The Age of Entitlement | Institute of Economic Affairs.
Hat tip to Houses and Holes
Was it joe Hockey? I thought it was joe Palooka!
Is he speaking for those who withstood the onslaught!!
The Age of Entitlement has produced nothing of lasting value except overseas debt upon the Commonwealth government of 236,000,000,000 an increase of 236,000,000,000 in just 5 years of corrupt and incompetent mismanagement. This is increasing by 100,000,000 per day – without accounting for the simple interest of 13,000,000,000 per annum.
Entitlements produce responsibility and accountability on a nation. We witness daily, the actions of the market against those countries who gave entitlements without the intention or ability to repay the borrowings that funded them.
We will despair if we do not correct our ways. The IMF and creditor nations have an unblemished record of extracting repayments from countries as a priority as is being forced upon Greece currently. The Greeks also used to laugh and deride those politicians who were brave enough to give public warnings of the outcome of current lavish handouts. In 10 years re-read this contribution, Henry Casson and Rod and perhaps read a few enlightened books about the rise and fall of nations and empires.
The message from Europe is clear: the days of the welfare state are numbered. Politicians will no longer be able to distribute largesse at the expense of future generations. Tinkering with broad market forces leads to financial ruin, not long-lasting prosperity. The age of entitlement is well and truly over. The bond markets are the final arbiter.
While there is some truth in the entitlement argument I note that Hockey has made no mention of the wealthy rip off merchants who are so fond of privatising profits & socialising debt. That said, perhaps governments should gradually get out of the handout business &, as they do so, get into the teaching of responsibility business. That way not only low income welfare recipients but also businesses which rely on the taxpayers for their existence would gradually learn to manage their own affairs more effectively.