The Battle for your Money

The battle for your money became an open truth yesterday.

It was extraordinary to witness the political and media outcry when David Cameron, in his annual speech to his party conference, initially urged the people of Britain to pay off their credit card bills in order to help relieve the heavy burden of debt that is everywhere. It was headline news all day, and the furore was such that the speech was hastily changed to mention merely factually that many Britons, like the government, were addressing this issue.

The reason why Cameron went from a request to a statement was because economists and retailers made it clear that for there to be little or no household debt or consumer spending would be disastrous for the economy. In other words, unless you spend money, even if it is money you have not got, the economy will collapse for, clearly, it is built on debt - government debt and your debt.

I can understand the argument: if you buy goods, those goods are made and supplied by people and it keeps them in work; the companies make money and their taxes along with those of their employees feeds government spending on public services – and goes towards paying interest on a massive government debt; if companies collapse because their businesses fail, the new claimants for benefits put additional strain on a stretched government budget. Meanwhile, the majority of retailers and suppliers themselves are in debt, unable to survive without continuing bank lending and your money.

There is a big flaw in all of this, which is that, for this to work, you are expected to spend money you may not have on goods and services you may not need, creating a debt which must be repaid one day by you, possibly involving pain and great hardship. Where is the common sense in this? Where is the compassion?

This scenario applies to many countries not just Britain: the battle for your money, whether it exists or not, is under way everywhere. It has been so for a long time but only now is being acknowledged openly. It is time for you to know the truth, and for you to choose what to with the truth, and indeed your money.

It is clear that we live in a society with distorted values, where money is the basis for everything, the driver for power and control and the weapon of first and last resort whatever the repercussions for you. How much do caring governments really care?