The man who invests his savings in a concern that goes bankrupt is therefore injuring others as well as himself. If he spent his money, say, in giving parties for his friends, they (we may hope) would get pleasure, and so would all those upon whom he spent money, such as the butcher, the baker, and the bootlegger.
In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays, Bertrand Russell
Publicans and drug dealers around Arklow are wetting their elixir lips this week with the expectation of a bumper windfall from alcoholic pensioners and strung-out addicts alike with some having already begun to shoot up, snort and imbibe their vote buying extra 232 euros this week. Publican Ber Mulrooney says it’s like Christmas has come early and states he has already seen a brisker trade since the Pope’s visit.
“Well, see I dispense the legal narcotic to numb the pain and suffering of my punters, but whereas I was the only show in town back in my 70s heyday, I now have stiff competition from the foothills of Colombia and the chemical labs of Amsterdam. I’m probably a bit long in the tooth to get all these globalised shenanigans but once everyone is getting fucked up then I don’t really care. Drinking leads to drug taking and drug taking leads to drinking. We are all in this together, so let’s pull on the green jersey and get everyone wrecked!”
Resident bitter all misery guts Jack Walker wonders: “Where was my fuckin bonus when I was workin hard to singlehandedly keep the country on its feet back in the rare auld times? Like, me gold plated pension for me Intercert qualified job dwarfs most people’s earnings today but fuck em all. I earned it and I gladly pull the ladder for the next generation who have it waaaaaaaaaaaaaay easier than we did! I remember havin to get up off the couch every time to change the only two channels we had on the hire purchase telly back then.
And I meet some of these lads with Arts degrees and they haven’t a fuckin clue about anything at all. Sure I barely finished school but yet I still often catch these little snotnoses out with one single piece of esoteric trivia about something entirely unrelated to their academic qualifications which proves college is a complete fuckin waste of time! An education from the Brothers wasn’t that bad at all and I still carry the emotional, psychological and physical scars to prove it!”
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Everything had to be earned in my day with blood, sweat and tears, and a good kicking of the dog, cat, the goldfish and missus after a hard day’s toil. If the younger generations didn’t suffer as I did they can fuck right off to Van Diemen’s land like me ancestors had to. Fuckin arty-farty degrees aren’t worth a shite and now they are all complaining about not being able to find work. They should have picked a trade.
I asked Jack did he ever learn a trade to get by in his working days. “No, I inherited a family farm. Pint there please, Roisin.”
A stoned, convulsing and frothing at the mouth Oranges Thompson expressed a drug-induced euphoric joy about his windfall this week as a syringe hung out of his scab-encrusted ballsack. “Like its fuckin class and as Yuval Noah Harriri so eloquently stated:
“Even the welfare system was originally planned in the interest of the nation rather than of needy individuals. When Otto von Bismarck pioneered state pensions and social security in late nineteenth-century Germany, his chief aim was to ensure the loyalty of the citizens rather than to increase their well-being.”
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari
“And I’m defo loyal to the state now yahoo boi! I’m just glad I’m puttin’ money back into the local community by supporting me local drug dealer cos he’s gotta eat too. By not legalising drugs the govt is pissin away millions in lost revenue and instead spendin’ millions a year on the legal and garda merry in a costly and perennial merry go round of junkie cat and mouse but fuck them like!”
As long as a man spends his income, he puts just as much bread into people’s mouths in spending as he takes out of other people’s mouths in earning. The real villain, from this point of view, is the man who saves. If he merely puts his savings in a stocking, like the proverbial French peasant, it is obvious that they do not give employment.
In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays, Bertrand Russell
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