Voting populations are like children.
Who would they prefer? The parent who gives them small toys but promises them that tomorrow is going to be taken care of, or the one who gets them really big toys using loans... and also tells them that tomorrow is going to be taken care of.
In the UK there was a flood in the North. Some had house insurance that covered floods, others didn't. Those that didn't got give free money from the government. So, either you can pay insurance year after year, or not bother and complain if a flood happens and the Government will give you money.
In the UK, cuts are being fought tooth and nail as every special interest group fights for their money, with no mature overview that this is required due to the hideous amount of borrowing that went on before. Of course spending less money on things will be worse but frankly that's just tough.
Gordon Brown epitomised this "spend now, ask questions... never" mentality by calling every handout an "investment" - but never feeling the need to explain what the returns would be.

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