Paying the price

The last year-and-a-half has been exceptionally educational for politicians who once had their heads in the clouds, who appealed to the public’s emotional side and who have now been brought crashing down to reality.

One lesson they have learned is that everything you try to do without cost ends up coming with a hefty bill. They tried such a tactic with public transport and now the entire system is collapsing. They tried abolishing the 5-euro admission fee at public hospitals and it blew up in their faces. Toll payments to construction companies are not just grudgingly being paid, they have also risen.

There are so many examples of schemes introduced off the cuff that have gone pear-shaped, and they always come at the expense of society as a whole, because they create deficits that need to be plugged with taxes.

It’s shame we can’t charge the people responsible for such debacles personally. It should be them, not us, who get sent the bill for their mistakes.