The credit generation

I really don't understand it. You'd have thought by now that people would have realised the awful shadow that overspending will cast upon their lives if they don't make some efforts to keep their spending in check, but no! The Guardian quotes this nightmarish statistic today:

["When rates go up, the number in 'debt peril' could increase to anywhere between 1.1 million and two million, depending on the speed at which borrowing costs rise and the nature of the economic recovery."

The warning comes as a survey carried out by Which? reveals that rather than paying off their debts, around 13 million people (25%) paid for their Christmas by borrowing. Overall, more than four in 10 (42%) used credit cards, loans or overdrafts to fund their spending over the festive period, which suggests that Britons have not shed their addiction to debt.]

I realise that some of these people will simply pay off their 'debt' when their statement arrives, but I am left with a sinking suspicion that credit fever is with us once more. It seems that you hardly dare say the words "possible recovery" or "green shoots" and the whole world takes it as a green light to go on a spending spree.

Newspapers are full of reports that the housing market will rise by 8% next year and gleeful economic commentators can't wait to tell us of the future prosperity that is waiting just around this next corner. I wonder what has to happen to make people understand that spending, although enjoyable at the time, comes with a not-so-hidden agenda - you have to pay for it and thus far, we have amply demonstrated that we are singularly unable to do this.

What is it about the word 'saving' that fills people with so much dread? Perhaps I was brought up by over-cautious parents but Mr Micawber's words are as true today as they were in 1850:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery."

It used to be called "Living beyond your means" ... please don't get me started!