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CHAPTER 23The Assault on Saving1From time immemorial proverbial wisdom has taught the virtues ofsaving, and warned against the consequences of prodigality andwaste. This proverbial wisdom has reflected the common ethical aswell as the merely prudential judgments of mankind. But there havealways been squanderers, and there have apparently always been theoriststo rationalize their squandering.The classical economists, refuting the fallacies of their own day,showed that the saving policy that was in the best interests of the individualwas also in the best interests of the nation. They showed thatthe rational saver, in making provision for his own future, was nothurting, but helping, the whole community. But today the ancientvirtue of thrift, as well as its defense by the classical economists, isonce more under attack, for allegedly new reasons, while the oppositedoctrine of spending is in fashion.In order to make the fundamental issue as clear as possible, wecannot do better, I think, than to start with the classic example usedby Bastiat. Let us imagine two brothers, then, one a spendthrift andthe other a prudent man, each of whom has inherited a sum to yieldhim an income of $50,000 a year. We shall disregard the income tax,159