12-25-60: the (false) code of our laziness

Jorge Botelho Moniz

Kisin says you are soft; the internet calls you “weak.” How dare you, dear reader, be retired or unwell? Between false figures and armchair prophecies, discover why your comfort is seen as our downfall and how the European social model has become a sin—and its protection, heresy.

A few days ago, I watched an interview with Russian-British author Konstantin Kisin about spending on the European social model. In it, he claimed that Europe represents 12% of the world’s population (a misleading number—we are even fewer), 25% of global GDP (slightly less in reality), and 60% of global social protection spending (no international data supports anything close to this figure). The most credible estimate we have, from a European Commission working paper (1/2013), states that the EU accounted for around 40% of global public spending on social protection.

But that hardly matters—the message lands: Europe has too few people and produces too little wealth for such high spending. Worse still, it is portrayed as bad spending. In that January 2026 interview, Kisin says the reader has “grown complacent and lazy,” echoing a familiar anti-European narrative—that your comfort has led to our irrelevance. How dare you!?

The 12-25-60 argument is provocative, and social media, in its echo chamber role, eagerly amplifies it. With over 900,000 views, the comments are, as always, the most entertaining part. Let us consider a few.

According to the great philosopher matt_in_ra, “weak men are creating hard times,” and, remarkably, it will be “Generation Z who will make Europe great again.” In other words, my generation—millennials—is weak, and it will be my undergraduate students who will save us. I shall pass along the message. Then there is the classic misattribution: as one enthusiastic quoter claims, Ayn Rand once said, “You can ignore reality, but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” Touché! Speaking of French, the prophet Jack Fretwell writes, “This belle epoch is over.” Forgive his French. Meanwhile, KP Vinod warns of “luxury obsessions—safe, comfortable, rudderless—and immersed in absurd ideas.” A true admiral. Finally, the great political thinker tempus_luxury_watch reminds us that this is “precisely” the point Trump has been making about the future of the West, and that “if we want to survive, we must change course and follow his example.” Amen.

Let me summarise the accusations. According to Kisin and his admirers, you and your comfortable lifestyle have made you soft, ignorant, obsessed with luxury, ungrateful to Trump, and not particularly fluent in French.

So, looking at the Portuguese reality and the latest Social Security data (December 2025), I suggest that the more than 2 million pensioners stop idling and return to work—their pensions are clearly making them soft. I suggest that the more than 180,000 people receiving sickness benefits simply recover—physical and mental health issues should not be barriers to work; just look at Trump. The more than 1 million Portuguese receiving child benefits are clearly raising another generation of weak men, already dependent on the state from birth. I suggest, finally, that the more than 240,000 elderly receiving solidarity supplements, the more than 176,000 beneficiaries of social inclusion benefits, and the more than 18,000 informal caregivers reflect on their lives and the damage they are doing to society. Let go of your obsession with luxury goods. The belle epoch is over. Haven’t you heard?

I know—I have read it. I know I am a millennial, part of a generation of weak men, and that my students will save us. I also know that Kisin’s message is, in part, a warning about the world we live in and the long-term sustainability of the European 12-25-60 model, even if the numbers are misleading. He is, albeit inaccurately, pointing to the risks of failing to reflect on Europe’s competitiveness in the medium term. I have been engaging in that reflection weekly for years. But do not worry. As historian Oswald Spengler supposedly said, “history shows that welfare states inevitably collapse.” Or perhaps he said that civilizations collapse. We should probably call that famous misquoter to clarify.

Jorge Botelho Moniz
Associate Professor

Source: Jornal SOL