There is little doubt in my mind that more austere lifestyles - for many - are required to enable future generations to live in some of the comfort to which many have grown accustomed (especially in North America).
I do not doubt that a new age of austerity is coming, and that it will be accompanied by tears, howling and gnashing of teeth.
Some tears, etc., will be genuine and some government measures will be to blame.
For example:
"The main feeling of the people is that for the banking system there are millions and billions of euros, but the social payments are being cut. That's not right," said Ralf Kutkowski,a German coal miner protesting in the Belgian capital.
Governments must spread the pain about in at least an equitable fashion. And in my opinion, the rich, with excessive lifestyles in some cases, may need to sacrifice more than the poor because they have more to give - in some cases, without making a dent.
Some tears, etc., will not be genuine, i.e., from those who have grown accustomed to more wealth than they require to live comfortably.
Governments, businesses, individual families - all have much to sort out.
If there is to be austerity in the future, who will pay the price?
***
The sorting out must hasten.
All debt - household, provincial, national, US, G7, OECD, global, environmental - is growing at an unprecedented rate.
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