The public purse

The Government is coming under heavy pressure to compensate people whose employer has gone bust, and who as a result have lost the occupational pension they were relying on. Certainly there is no doubt that these people were led to believe by Government that their pensions were "safe" and protected by law, and the natural reaction is to say that the Government is under at the very least a moral duty to make up the shortfall. But the problem is that Government doesn't have any money - or more precisely, what money it does have is ours, the taxpayers'. So the real question, which I'm afraid is much less clear and obvious, is whether you and I should foot the bill.