The story seems so incredible that instead of telling it in my own words, I prefer to present it as a series of snapshots taken by different firsthand observers at intervals over the years. Uruguay today offers the sad spectacle of a sick Welfare State. No politician comes out with the home truth that this country's wide range of welfare services has to be paid for with funds which have to be earned. Demagogy is used as a sedative. The result is that the foreign payments deficit is increasing, internal debt soaring, wage demands accumulating, prices rising, and the Uruguayan peso rapidly depreciating.
Nepotism is rife.
The foreign payments deficit has been running at a monthly rate of about 5 million pesos. The public servants are asking for a substantial increase in salaries. No politician here can hope to get a majority by advocating austerity, harder work, and the sacrifice of even some of the Welfare State features. I should like to pause here to underline this last paragraph, for it illustrates what is perhaps the most ominous aspect of the welfare state everywhere. We will find this repeatedly illustrated in Uruguay.