Skip to main content

Debt, debt and even more debt

The credit habits of Generation Y have been explicitly explored in todays New Zealand Herald following a report from Veda Advantage, New Zealand's largest supplier of credit information. Associated Budgeting Consultants Network chairman, Darryl Evans is quoted as saying "I believe living in debt is a learned behaviour.....at the moment I'm working with four generations of the same family. That says something". Darryl Evans said that he was'nt surprised at any of the report's findings. Well nor am I! Generation by generation our people have been getting further and further into debt. None of us can escape the burden of debt, it does not matter how financially literate we are. One way or another every New Zealander is servicing debt, whether it be their own debt or the debt loaded on the prices they pay for goods and services. And of course we pay tax to service the government's debt and we pay rates or rent which helps service local government debt. Unfortunately, under the current financial system, increasing debt is a given just for our economy to stay still. An even greater growth in debt is required to make it grow. The barrage of advertisements in all forms of the media are designed to "Lead us into temptation" to buy, buy and buy. They encourage and show us how to buy on the "never never". Can you imagine the levels of unemployment, the closed shops and businesses if there was no sales fuelled by debt? We openly abhor debt. We loathe the amount of interest we pay, and we feel fear when we get caught in the clutches of compounding interest. Under the current system we will be in debt until we die. The literal meaning of 'mortgage' is 'the grip of death'. Our futures are well and truly mortgaged!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand

New Zealand's Central Reserve Bank is STATE owned. Despite that, instead of being used for the benefit of its owners, the people of New Zealand, successive Governments have: Allowed the foreign-owned trading banks to create and issue nearly all of the nation's money supply and claim it as their own. Notes and coins make up less than three percent of the money in circulation. Ninety seven percent of our money supply is on loan to us at interest from those banks. Actively encouraged banks to charge "rental" for this money at some of the highest interest rates in the developed world. Used high interest rates as a blunt lever to control inflation, while agreeing to exclude the resultant costs from the Price Index, so that their cost-inflationary effects do not allow pensions and awards to compensate for these. Deliberately used interest rate fluctuations to maintain an unemployed "pool" of about four percent of the workforce in order to hold down wage rates. Fa...
9 comments
Read more

Show Me the “Monetary Reform” David Cunliffe!

Show Me the “Monetary Reform” David Cunliffe! Following Phil Goff’s release of Labour’s Finance Manifesto today, David Cunliffe has said in a New Zealand Labour Party press release : “Labour is backing the drive for more high value exports with monetary reform ...” I challenge David Cunliffe, Labour’s Finance Spokesperson, to front up and explain what he means by the term ‘monetary reform’. If he means replacing toxic debt-based commercial bank credit with social credit, as the sole means of money coming into existence and continuing to exist – issued in the public interest, to serve the common good - then I would endorse his definition. And if he accepts that it’s crazy for our government to borrow from foreign lenders, with interest, when we could use the publicly-owned Reserve Bank of New Zealand as an independent statutory monetary authority with the sole power to create, issue, and cancel New Zealand’s money, then I applaud his endeavours. But if Mr. Cunliffe thinks ‘mo...
2 comments
Read more

Oil speculators are making a killing now - Money speculators have been doing it for centuries.

Oil can be bought and sold many times over, even before it comes out of the ground, but eventually oil will run out. Its scarcity factor can be managed simply by turning on and off the taps. Other commodities have had their day in the sun but one by one are replaced by the next opportunity for speculation. Money, on the other hand, is different in one key way - it can be created out of thin air at very little expense and will never run out. Those who are in control of the money creation process have quietly gone about their business - Creating money; Turning the money taps on and off; Speculative buying and selling of money - for centuries.
3 comments
Read more