The ant and the grasshopper

[StillGoingStrongToday]

Am I being unreasonable to ask if anyone nowadays understands the message in the fable of the ant and the grasshopper?

The message was not that the grasshopper was right to spend every penny coming in on a nice car on credit, and that he “deserved” some quality time sleeping the summer away, was it?

I’m pretty sure that it also wasn’t that the ant should be heavily taxed when the winter arrived, as it was obscene that he had a nest and a store of food that he should be made to share.

There seem to be a fair few people who think that they absolutely deserved their holidays, meals out, nice lifestyle and so on rather than being expected to save and who are now outraged that “the rich” aren’t having their savings raided to pay their heating bills.

How do you save when every last penny is going on bills?
Tax is a fair way of ensuring that people with the least can carry on 'surviving.' The only people I've heard talk about 'deserving' a holiday are those who feel guilty about going on a plane and feel the need to justify their actions they don't
In real life people who can't save, can't save because their earnings are only just covering the basics, and for some their earnings are no longer covering the costs of living.
But don't let reality get in the way of a good old bashing the poor thread.
If people / huge corporations didn't try and dodge tax there would be more in the pot. Taxes need to rise in order to keep funding the NHS, social care, education, bin collections etc etc. all of which is costing more and more to run.
Of course if you tax too heavily people and corporations move away which doesn't help either. It's about balance. But you are very wrong to think people are able to save if they are on minimum wage or just above.a friend has recently had to stop paying into her pension because she can't afford it anymore, food on the table now is more important than food on the table in 20 years time. I'm sure she's not alone with having to make these decisions.

What about the people who aren't having holidays, meals out or a nice lifestyle, but are just working flat out to try to keep their head above water now?

The fable doesn't work because it assumes everyone is equally able to work and save, that everyone has the same opportunities. This blatantly isn't the case for the insects in the story (they were just following their natural behaviour), let alone for humans.

If there is any meaning, it's that UNLESS the rich (the ants) pay more than their share, the poor (the grasshoppers) suffer.