Self-interest is always an interesting topic. Yet it's invariably applied to market settings, with individuals such as business owners and investors and greedy capitalists caricatured as selfish and serving themselves without regard for others.
As Mark Steyn aptly notes:
We hard-hearted, small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government. Once a chap's enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and all the rest, he couldn't give a hoot about the general societal interest. He's got his, and to hell with everyone else. People's sense of entitlement endures long after the entitlement has ceased to make sense.
There's certainly proof of the same in this country (and here). UPDATE: And better yet, here.
BTW - Why is it that politicians regard their career choices that come with extraordinary pay, generous benefits, and the power to control the lives of others as sacrificing in that they are "serving the public," but career government workers and private employees and their bosses and the owners of their companies are not regarded in the same way? In fact, they're often vilified for serving the interests of society so well. (i.e., Higher profits.)
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