The younger generation, we are reliably informed, don't expect to pay for things any more.
Their news, music, films and stuff arrive via the magic of the internet without rubbing grubby shoulders with lucre.
And there's no going back. Now they're used to getting everything for nothing then a small charge here and there is enough to drive them to further reaches of the silicon hinterland in search of something substandard but free.
But, as they're sadly finding out, nothing's for free. They're paying. Big-time and for a long time.
Because in the olden days of, say, a decade ago, there were people who made things and put things on shelves and biked films to multiplexes and wrote about books in newspapers and put jumpers in bags and said "thank you" and pitched for money from TV companies to make documentaries and all these people were in employment.
The middle men, middle boys and middle girls have all gone. We've wiped out an entire class of employment by refusing to pay. We've seen the ladder pulled up behind us and the man who used to pull up the ladder has been made redundant because some whizkid in Seattle has just released the LadderPull app for 97p.
And now all the youngsters have to get everything for free because they haven't the wage to pay for them. And I wonder if, given the choice, they would quite like a slice of that action, those golden days, where we paid a little for lots of things and people were employed to make all of it happen.
Money-go-round
- Keynesian economics is all about keeping money in circulation - so one person's outlay is another man's wage. And when money stopped circulating, the Government steps in and unblocks the blockage.
One man is paid to dig a hole and another is paid to fill it up, both of them heading off to Greggs to buy pasties for their lunch.
But now even that faux-job is gone. According to the AA, Britain is sinking under the weight of its potholes. So there's only a job for one man now and Greggs will have to toss the extra pasty.
