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A friend followed the Daily Paradox on ‘Money isn’t everything, my child’ (18 Nov 2011) with a question:

‘The young these days watch us closely and ask “if money is not everything then why are we so stingy, even we who say money is not everything”’. I promised him a view.

First, I assume the reference is to appalling worldwide poverty and why rich countries and people do not provide more money to alleviate it. The young in developed countries have had mixed experience of ‘stinginess’ ranging from the equivalent of child labour to over-indulgence. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened dramatically in the last thirty years both internationally and locally. If the young perceive that as shameful, I agree.

There are three basic reasons for ‘stinginess’. One is prudence. Those who have worked and saved in order to avoid others having to subsidise their medical care in old age are trying to stand on their own feet – a wholly worthy aim. They have learnt that what seems a lot of money when you are young may well be quite a modest amount when you are old, especially now we all live much longer.

So prudent people save a bit more than they might have originally intended in order to deal with inflation. The fact that they are currently being robbed blind by the shenanigans of the financial world will lead some to abandon the attempt and others to double their efforts. Either way the victims will be the worldwide poor because less money will be available to help them. The poor always are the victims.

Prudence is not to be sneezed at. If in the last thirty years all governments – and that means voters, too – had acted prudently the world would not be teetering on the brink of the worst recession, coupled with the worst inflation, which it has ever seen. It is too late to start teaching prudence to avert the forthcoming disaster. The financial collapse itself, caused by indiscriminate money printing, will, if we survive it with anything remotely resembling civilisation intact, teach personal prudence, albeit in a very painful way.

The second reason for apparent ‘stinginess’ is the expectations we have all acquired for a better life. This is seen as more possessions and more consumption. I watched a television programme where a single mother of five children, wholly supported by the state, complained – without taking the cigarette out of her mouth – that the poverty allowance only permitted her family to have one holiday a year whereas most people got two. I do not want to see the poor deprived of a decent life but the state cannot pay for everyone to enjoy the fruits of labour they have not performed. The world as a whole is living way beyond its means,

Thirdly, there is much evidence that generosity often leads to lost funds. After the tsunami of December 2004 many millions of people gave money to help with the relief. Eight years later much of that money, already significantly devalued, has still not reached the intended victims. This is usual. Corruption, delay, bureaucracy all contribute to poor distribution of funds.

Stingy? I do not think the average person is stingy. I think they are thwarted.