Afraid of the future? We should.
Be afraid about your future: the western world has lived for decades in an unrealistic way, thinking it could afford the cost of social benefits, health care, unemployment protection, family allocations for children, etc., but this was just like luxury things bought by spending inexistent money or taking taxes which impaired the otherwise flourishing economy. Paying for those in need was a mistake which drove the whole economy to an unprecedented crisis to such an extent that now everyone has to pay for the huge debts accumulated by the States. Greece is the best example: Greeks, and many Europeans, have been 'living above their means'. Here is - of course as a caricature - the kind of arguments one finds easily as explanations for the bad economic situation taking place in Europe (see a more elaborated list here ). In the UK, the conservative government calls the crisis a 'budget crisis' and basically targets as responsible the former labour policy, accused of b...