BRITS £11 BILLION A MONTH CREDIT CARD SPEND

[dArKeR]

CREDIT card spending has hit a monthly record of £11billion, new figures revealed yesterday.

Consumers owe £51billion on plastic, according to the Bank of England.

It is part of a picture of spiralling debt which has seen unsecured lending - borrowing other than mortgages - rocket from £3,700 per household in 1998 to £6,900.

And people are also borrowing record amounts against the increased value of their homes.

The figures for July alarmed opposition MPs, who warned it could "all end in tears" and said that a cut in interest rates should be ruled out when the Bank of England meets this week.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13359594_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-BRITS%2D%2D11%2DBILLION%2DA%2DMONTH%2DCREDIT%2DCARD%2DSPEND-name_page.html

I think this is LBN but I'll put it here to be safe. LBN considering the Satan's nest Bush and Blair have put the U.K. and U.S. citizens in and now we're targets to be killed and/or kidnapped round-the-world and at home. Thanks you 2 Shit-For-Brains!

[punpirate]

1. Interesting, and disturbing...

... for this reason. The US figures are actually much, much worse. Average debt per household in GB is, what, £6,900? If total debt is £51 billion, that means 7 million households (not true--GB's population is about 80 million). So, they're fudging the figures somehow.

But, it's disturbing because US unsecured debt is much higher. Let's assume that the average household unsecured debt is correct. £6,900, at current exchange rates, translates to $10,600.

American consumers now owe, as of January, 2003, $1.74 trillion. If we assume 80 million households, that's still almost $23,000 average debt per household.

Americans are much further in the hole than the Brits, and the Brits are nervous as hell about their situation.

Who's nervous here?

[SoCalDem]

2. The problem, is that in roughly ONE generation,

the US and the UK households have far more "wants" than they can actually afford.. Advertising and marketing have created a HUGE monster, and it's hungry.....for plastic:(

I can still remember my grandmother having toasters fixed, radios fixed, irons fixed..

Nowadays, we just toss those things out and buy new ones.. You cannot watch tv for 10 minutes without having products shoved in your face, screaming.."BUY ME!!", "I'LL MAKE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE".."YOU'LL BE GORGEOUS, IF YOU SPEND $100 ON THIS EYE CREAM"...

The day of reckoning is coming though, for both countries..

People have lost jobs, but until their plastic is maxxed out and they can no longer afford the payments, they will keep on buying stuff :(

[punpirate]

3. These days...

.. try to find someone who can or will fix a toaster. If you do, the bill will be more than a new one would cost. If you're on a tight budget, do you resist the implications of being in a throwaway society, or do you buy a new toaster? How much time does one have these days to _find_ someone who will fix the toaster, regardless of cost?

It's a rotten choice, I agree.

The European model is to pay much more for something which will last a very long time. Americans don't demand that, or think they can't afford it (and, in many cases, they can't). If one has to put the purchase on a credit card, does one opt for a $300 washing machine made in the US, which will last perhaps three or four years, or does one buy an imported Swiss-made Miele for $1100 which will last fifteen or twenty years?

Again, it's a rotten choice. But, the society no longer supports the repair of minor appliances at reasonable cost. Obsolescence is, indeed, built in, not only into the appliance, but into the society, as well. *sigh*

Cheers.