Steyn on the Welfare State

By Greg Richards

The always inestimable Mark Steyn has what is, even by his high standards, an excellent column on NRO . He magnificently summarizes the dilemma of the welfare state; i.e., always depending on being able to access more contributors in succeeding generations to pay for excessive benefits to the current generation, and how this has come a cropper in Europe in general and Greece in particular, with the US of A not far behind:

By the way, you don't have to go to Greece to experience Greek-style retirement: The Athenian "public service" of California has been metaphorically face down in the ouzo for a generation.

He documents the argument with the fertility statistics that have informed one theme of his writing recently - the death of Europe - and with another theme, the moral decline of the citizenry when it is "cared for" by government:

Economic reality is not my problem. I want my benefits. And, if it bankrupts the entire state a generation fro now, who cares as long as they keep the checks coming until I croak?

The piece is called "When Responsibility Doesn't Pay" and it is well worth reading.