ACROSS the developed world, an uncomfortable question is announcing itself: is it okay for public institutions to dish out money for nothing; to deposit hard cash into the bank accounts of millions of people and never ask for it back?From deep in the guts of the western middle classes, the answer is a growling no. Payment is a reward for hard work, they have been told.It is what you get for taking risks or for ingenuity. To hand people public money and ask for nothing in return offends against the order of things.That, after all, is the mantra on which Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher came to power. It struck the very deepest chord back then and today it resonates even more deeply."We choose aspiration," UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in a recent budget speech."This budget backs the self-employed, the small business owner and the homebuyer. It helps hardworking people…."And yet, in a technocratic language far removed from the rhetoric of stump speeches, the id...
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