I have to agree. You can't base an economy on semi-literates spending money they can afford forever. Learning and entrepreneurship will have to be back on the agenda. However, education costs money in incentives, propaganda and lost taxes whilst not working and the federal budget is a disaster. Has to be done, as you say, so expect dramatic cuts in spending in everything but education.

An interesting side effect will be politicians telling the religious nutters to STFU and stay away from education boards. Might even see convoluted tax rules for churches so only the larger, more mainstream and saner, churches can avoid paying excessive tax.