Show Me The Money

It isn't money that makes the world go round. At least, not in Britain anyway. It's debt. And the accumulation of it.

Where is the sense in it? Children in England, my daughter included, now face the prospect of even bigger debts on leaving university. Average student debt, for those starting this year, was expected to reach £25000. Now factor in the additional tuition fees. The country is awash with debt. It's how we got here in the first fucking place. Who wants to start their working life already saddled with, what, £30k, £40k, £50k of debt?

We know that wages aren't keeping up with inflation. We also know that this ConDem bollocks about not paying until you earn £21k doesn't kick in 'til 2016 so won't be a big difference from the current £15k threshold, again, given inflation. So all these graduate high fliers who will, of course, march straight into all those readily available well-paid jobs will still be repaying their loans.

The Depart for Business, Innovation and Skills trumpets, "Graduates ... can expect to earn at least £100,000, net of tax, more than non-graduates across their working lives." Wow! On an average forty years working life, that's £2500 a year more! A massive £208 a month EXTRA! All because you have £40k of debt. But remember that you will be living and working longer.

What if you want to buy a house? The days of 100% loans are long gone my student friend. And don't even think of trying to self-certificate your earnings. So you'd better start saving for a hefty deposit. Oh, that's right - you're studying. And working part-time already to keep on top of your debts. I'll put the savings book away then shall I?

And don't forget your pension. You'll need to start a pension as soon as you start working to have even a vague chance of a pittance of an income when you retire. At 73. Because that's where retirement age will be. All the risks of the defined contribution pension scheme will be yours to endure as the stock market ridicules your life of wage slavery.

Debt interwoven with debt overlaid with debt. At an individual level. At an institutional level. At a state level. At a global level. It's becoming meaningless.

It's madness.