When I was a young missionary in Uruguay, one afternoon after a district conference we were playing basketball when one of the church leaders, a man named A. Theodore Tuttle, called is into another meeting.
He asked us how we liked the country we were called to serve. It was a nice country, much nicer than our preconceived banana republic notions.
But it did have problems that we did not like. The inflation rate was around 90%, and our members were suffering. Power outages and transportation shutdowns due to arbitrary unannounced strikes from fed up workers.
Brother Tuttle told us that just a little over 10 years earlier, Uruguay was the example of what a South American country could be. With a surplus in the treasury, virtually no poverty, and a great balance of trade, it was being referred to as the Switzerland of South America.
Then a socialist government was voted in that took it upon itself to broadly expand the social programs, including setting the retirement age at 45.
Long story short, the country was bankrupt in a little more than a decade and while many leaders knew how to right the ship, without the cooperation of the people it would be unattainable. But too many now felt they were "entitled" to retire at 45. It was a lesson not lost on me, and sadly, I can see the trappings in what is happening here, now.
He asked us how we liked the country we were called to serve. It was a nice country, much nicer than our preconceived banana republic notions.
But it did have problems that we did not like. The inflation rate was around 90%, and our members were suffering. Power outages and transportation shutdowns due to arbitrary unannounced strikes from fed up workers.
Brother Tuttle told us that just a little over 10 years earlier, Uruguay was the example of what a South American country could be. With a surplus in the treasury, virtually no poverty, and a great balance of trade, it was being referred to as the Switzerland of South America.
Then a socialist government was voted in that took it upon itself to broadly expand the social programs, including setting the retirement age at 45.
Long story short, the country was bankrupt in a little more than a decade and while many leaders knew how to right the ship, without the cooperation of the people it would be unattainable. But too many now felt they were "entitled" to retire at 45. It was a lesson not lost on me, and sadly, I can see the trappings in what is happening here, now.
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