The least appreciated part of Lee Kuan Yew's legacy: ensuring one generation will not bankrupt future generations by living selfishly beyond its means

Mr Lee Kuan Yew's legacy according to American political journalist, John Fund is his method of ensuring that one generation will not bankrupt future generations by living selfishly beyond its means.

This is why the government is required to operate a balanced budget for each term of government. This is why the Constitution does not allow the government to borrow for recurrent expenditure. Each generation must pay for its own recurrent needs.

A political leader must have the courage to tell the people the truth about the limits of government's power to pass out goodies.

And of course, the surest way to bankrupt a country is to let the people think the country has limitless assets like land to sell and use the proceeds to fund recurrent expenditure. Thankfully, the government has rejected this dangerous proposal.

What is recurrent expenditure? It's expenditure that recurs, the day-to-day expenditure like salaries of nurses and doctors in public hospitals, teachers, social workers, subsidies for the needy etc.

You generate income to fund these expenditures, not sell your assets to fund these expenditures.