Richard Ingrams: It's galling when the rich tell us to tighten our belts Every one of us is going to experience pain, say Cameron and Osborne as they prepare us for severe measures to reduce the Government's huge deficit.
But the one thing you can be sure of is that, while others may lose money, people like Cameron and Osborne will feel scarcely any pain, for the simple reason that they are very rich. And rich people actually quite like to be told that they are going to have to make sacrifices. As Malcolm Muggeridge once wrote: "There is nothing that gives the well-to-do greater satisfaction than to be asked to economise for the good of their country. The money saved gratifies their avarice, the fact that in saving they are performing a public service adds a glow of self-righteousness."
Cameron's warning was echoed this week by another very rich man, Prince Charles. Preaching one of his regular secular sermons, he referred to what he called "a deep inner crisis of the soul", which was blighting the planet along with the fact that there are too many people in the world. "It would also help," he added, "if the world reduced its desire to consume."
Another message that the rich will like to hear, particularly coming from Prince Charles, a man with a very conspicuous desire to consume as much as possible with the help and support of a small army of butlers, valets and chauffeurs.
Independent
