Are we blind? Yes, but madder are those who stick to SVTs (Standard Variable Tariffs) and cash, whereas I, being of that camp (although they may have got even me to switch now), think it sensible, as do those who want to pay for what they use and not what they might in future, and to budget as suits their individual needs. We're told to live within our means and yet no system currently supports this.
This address (to the public at large. Well, to the few readers present) is more than a little late in coming and has been, before now, addressed to kitchen cupboards, living room furniture and the bathroom mirror, and yes, one or two points may now been different and this economic push to spend, spend, spend and not save may have quickened or slackened, but I couldn't, after having delivered it in a muddled rant-like manner to appliances many times over, restrain my fingers any longer from typing. Frankly, all eight digits and two thumbs were flexing and itching something chronic, and the only solution was to finally let them trip over the keyboard.
Buy now, have now, pay later or never at all. Pay up-front (i.e. in full) and be worse off. Don't have the money, borrow. Don't save for bills, for emergencies, for holidays etcetera, spend it and worry when the unexpected happens, then take out a loan to cover the costs. Don't pay for your degree, take lesser paid jobs so you don't have to and have the debt follow you everywhere (where is the incentive to do anything else? where are the jobs?), and build on top of it e.g. rent, work expenses and commuting hell. EVERYTHING can be bought on debit and credit! and with no receipts so monitoring your own habits is difficult. Got paid?, gone by tomorrow. Overdrawn?, be more overdrawn by the end of the month. In the red, what's new?
We're doing everything big business and banking wants, to a certain degree because they, surprise, surprise, want even more. They want constant transactions and data. They want cashless, because that's how they make their money. We must be crazy to be giving in so easily, lured by speed and ease of use, and yet it's not enough, it will never be enough, and so they might, just might, engineer a crash, to get rid once and for all of cash hangers-on and savers.
In some ways, this idea scares me more than the possibility of war (and certainly more than Trump, although I imagine he could be all for profit at the expense of consumers), because if the circumstances were set up right, what could we as civilians do? If such a crisis occurred, it would happen quickly, with little warning, as would the resolutions put in place, and there would be no, or little, public opinion in the matter. Oh yes, there might be a temporary backlash, a small demonstration but numbers would be few and the plan would still be forced through. The plan to penalise savers for saving, to slash interest rates to nil, to wipe out paper currency, and to charge for any services that involve a bank employee somewhere. Some of it's already in motion, some of it's coming...
It reminds me of Saint Sebastian, tied to a post or a tree and shot at with arrows. Or maybe we've had that part and were rescued and healed (from the previous financial crash and recession) by ministers who informed bankers in no uncertain terms we weren't ready and bargained for more time; and now the Emperors (they number more than one and are either ridiculously young or middle-aged, with some more vainglorious than others), fed up with waiting, are nearing the point where they'll club officials and even more of us to our deaths (depression, insolvency, and precarious living) if we don't yield (and permanently) this time around.
Picture credit: St. Sebastian, Botticelli, sourced from Museum Outlet.
