1986, £2,000
2011, £11,000
China:
1986, £180
2011, £18,000
USA:
1986, £3,500
2011, £21,000
Weddings...
Prior to WWII 90% of the average family income was spent on staying alive and safe - roof over head, household bills - water, power, taxes etc., food in stomach, medical bills. Credit was what a the patriarch would reluctantly resort to, to ensure the aforementioned sustenances were provided. Fruit and soft toilet tissue were luxury items and holidays were things that the aristocracy and rich middle classes experienced.
Today, credit is second nature.
Nearly 90% of all households in the UK have lines of credit. Students take on debt before they've got a job. But, unlike the generations pre-1960, 80% of today's adults use those lines of credit as if they were a liquid asset, in other words, their own cash. Credit is for personal recreational spend, it's no longer recognised as debt, as something owed to someone else. Credit is what enables the majority of people in this country to buy new cars - fewer and fewer people buy a car because it's their sole means of transport or it's a cheap little runaround. More likely, we've bought our car because the guy or girl next door has a make and model that I have to at minimum be seen to keep up with and at best, outclass. Mobile telephones, computers, audio & hi-Fi, wardrobes of clothes, holidays (home and abroad and several times a year), jewellery, plastic surgery, subscriptions (season tickets, spas, clubs, magazines, gaming communities). None of it was bought on credit because it was essential to keep us from the gutter. Nope, we buy to indulge. We buy on credit because we deliberately choose to ignore that we have a limit. And Commerce fuels that fantasy.
Compared to the rest of Europe, the British have one of the highest rates of personal debt. Much of this is due to the fact that we prefer to own our homes rather than rent. So whereas only 15% of mainland Europeans have a mortgage and the rest rent, in the UK 75% of people have a mortgage... the biggest credit debt of your life, usually. So many of us outstrip the rest of Europe as holders of debt simply by owning our own home. But these days, many people, including young adults run up mortgage size debt simply so that they can live a life of personal comfort, pleasure and excess that they are unlikely ever to be able to repay - because we're a disposable society and we replace possessions based on fashion trends and new innovation rather than end of life of goods. It's false luxury and absolutely false security. Short lived pleasure for a lifetime debt.
Nearly 90% of all households in the UK have lines of credit. Students take on debt before they've got a job. But, unlike the generations pre-1960, 80% of today's adults use those lines of credit as if they were a liquid asset, in other words, their own cash. Credit is for personal recreational spend, it's no longer recognised as debt, as something owed to someone else. Credit is what enables the majority of people in this country to buy new cars - fewer and fewer people buy a car because it's their sole means of transport or it's a cheap little runaround. More likely, we've bought our car because the guy or girl next door has a make and model that I have to at minimum be seen to keep up with and at best, outclass. Mobile telephones, computers, audio & hi-Fi, wardrobes of clothes, holidays (home and abroad and several times a year), jewellery, plastic surgery, subscriptions (season tickets, spas, clubs, magazines, gaming communities). None of it was bought on credit because it was essential to keep us from the gutter. Nope, we buy to indulge. We buy on credit because we deliberately choose to ignore that we have a limit. And Commerce fuels that fantasy.
Compared to the rest of Europe, the British have one of the highest rates of personal debt. Much of this is due to the fact that we prefer to own our homes rather than rent. So whereas only 15% of mainland Europeans have a mortgage and the rest rent, in the UK 75% of people have a mortgage... the biggest credit debt of your life, usually. So many of us outstrip the rest of Europe as holders of debt simply by owning our own home. But these days, many people, including young adults run up mortgage size debt simply so that they can live a life of personal comfort, pleasure and excess that they are unlikely ever to be able to repay - because we're a disposable society and we replace possessions based on fashion trends and new innovation rather than end of life of goods. It's false luxury and absolutely false security. Short lived pleasure for a lifetime debt.
I wonder how long society can sustain lifestyles beyond our means? I know there's no documentation, but I do wonder, in the ancient worlds, was it the over-expectation of societies that caused the collapse of civilizations such as the Greeks, Egyptians, Romans. And, if it was, will this society recognise the trouble it's in and be able to do anything about it or is the machinery of commerce to great a beast to be tamed now?
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