[tuatoru]

Exactly. If the political class no longer needs healthy, literate soldiers and workers, it's going to stop paying for them.

[cool_man_bob]

Even worse, without use for them, they’re a liability. Having a boatload of now useless probably angry is a dangerous scenario. Peasant rebellion are rare, but too happen, particularly when starvation is on the table.

So the play will be to boil the frog so to say. Find a way to make it acceptable to get rid of these “extra” people without too much noise. Consider the current rhetoric around homeless people.