Nikki Shell has put up a link to this online article, which pretty much sums up my feelings on the 'have now, pay later, buy yourself happiness' culture which has sprung up in the first world in the last 10-15 years.
P and I, and my Mum, and my sister and brother-in-law, still live by the old-fashioned rules of 'if you haven't got the money for it, then you can't have it'. And if you really want it, you save up for it. I know many other people in blogland are also keen on this way of living, of turning their backs on the rampant consumerism that is threatening to engulf us all. Sadly, I fear, we are something of a tiny minority.
The whole 'sub-prime' mortgage debacle in the USA pretty much sums up what is wrong with taking on too much debt, and the whole of the first world are now feeling the repurcussions from it, even those of us who haven't ever been in debt. I may be totally naive, but I hadn't realised that we too in the UK have had a booming 'sub-prime' lending culture until very recently. This has helped to fuel the never-ending house price boom, which in turn has led to people feeling they are wealthy and so can 'afford' to take on ever mounting debts. I believe the 'personal debt' in the UK has now topped a trillion pounds - and that does not take into account mortgage debt. And that the average household has 'personal debts' of more than £20,000. Why do people feel the need to spend their way to self-contentment? I can't say I'm adverse to a little 'retail therapy' myself, but I've never done it with money I don't have. How do they sleep at night? I would be worried sick if I had that level of debt. I'd probably have many more 'consumer durables' than I have at the moment, but I wouldn't be able to enjoy any of it if it meant I had to service that level of debt.
I'm really hoping that the tide may, at long last, be turning. Apparently lenders are becoming much more cautious about who they loan money too, and Barclaycard are turning down 50% of new applicants for credit cards and slashing the credit limit for many of their existing cardholders.
I'd like to blame the whole consumerism / debt mess on Maggie Thatcher (I like to blame everything on her if I can - but that's another story) but, this time at least, I don't think she is to blame. She may have sown the seeds of it during the 1980's 'greed is good' era, but New Labour (what was wrong with Old Labour I'd like to know) have certainly watered, fertilised, tended, and cultivated those seeds until they've grown into something that is taking over people's lives.
Sorry for the quasi-political rant. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow.
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