want to save? Well why do people save? Or why did they save? In the 19th century the primary motive for saving by people up until the 1930’s the reason people saved fundamentally was for there retirement for there old age, so they would not be destitute in there old age, so they wouldn’t be a burden on there children they saved. They don’t do that today, or they certainly don’t do it the way they did 100 years ago. Why not? Well today the government is saving for you. That system is called social security according to Franklin D. Roosevelt the government will provide for your old age you don’t need to worry about it anymore. (Online) Now if in fact the government were saving it wouldn’t be so bad, but the governing is not saving; the social security system is a simple “transfer system from the young to the old” there is no saving going on. (Hazlitt 53) This totally undermines the fundamental personal motive that people have to save in the absence of a welfare state. What is the second motive for saving? The secondary most important personal motive people would have to save used to be called saving for a rainy day. Saving for hard times, saving in case of loss of employment, saving for in case somebody gets sick, saving for a rainy day; I don’t know whether young people are even familiar with that expression anymore. Well what happens on a rainy day? Well there is a safety net a whole welfare system of constructing a safety net. On a rainy day you just fall into the net you don’t need to provide for yourself anymore the government will pick it up. Again the personal motive is destroyed or at least is seriously undermined by the whole welfare system, and in the case of the safety net there is not even the pretence of safety. Reduce the amount people want to save - inflation is great for this. Inflation reduces the real return on savings. The reward you get for savings is the int...
