If things get bad, many productive young people will be finding a country with less debt and moving there. If you stay behind to pay it off, you're a sucker.

If things get bad, many productive young people will be finding a country with less debt and moving there. If you stay behind to pay it off, you're a sucker. If you buy government bonds from a government in lots of debt, you're a sucker if you lose and a cheater if you win. If you accept pension promises you're acting in bad faith (letting present officials make promises to you using future generations' money, which is more convenient for them) and hoping that no one notices, and I don't feel an obligation to pay you off. There was a time when pension promises were honorable, but that time is not now. It's sad - you should have noticed that small little feeling of something being wrong, but realistically, most people have no sense of morality apart from what their friends think is wrong. But it's not any happier if the victims get screwed instead of the cheaters.