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Addiction to debt

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    Addiction to debt

    We must end this addiction to debt as the engine of growth - Telegraph

    Is this a sustainable economic model?

    The answer from the venerable Basel-based Bank for International Settlements is a definitive no. “As history reminds us, there is little appetite for taking the long-term view”, the BIS thunders in its latest annual report.

    As usual the big question is ignored - when the addiction grows and grows, when and how will the day of reckoning come?
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    I reckon AndyW will never come with a female human
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    #2
    Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post

    As usual the big question is ignored - when the addiction grows and grows, when and how will the day of reckoning come?
    Maybe never. Maybe, like Japan, the UK shall become so indebted that debts, like mortgages, will be passed on from generation to generation to pay off. And inflation shall truly never be in control of that country's central bank.

    The longer the day of reckoning is put off the more expensive living in the UK shall become. Money is not circulating, people are not receiving wage increases to service their debts.

    I've played monopoly long enough to know every time I buy up 'Old Kent Road' I catch everyone that passes go, nearly always. Not expensive property but I keep collecting the rents. Soon all the other players have no hope of winning yet they just seem unable to go bankrupt either. Eventually the other players go off in disgust and make a cup of tea.
    "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

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      #3
      Originally posted by scooterscot View Post
      <snip>
      I've played monopoly long enough to know every time I buy up 'Old Kent Road' I catch everyone that passes go, nearly always. Not expensive property but I keep collecting the rents. Soon all the other players have no hope of winning yet they just seem unable to go bankrupt either. Eventually the other players go off in disgust and make a cup of tea.
      The problem is, when all the other players go bankrupt, there is no one left to service your debt on Old Kent Road. So then you go bust too.

      The moneywheel has to keep turning and everyone needs to keep playing, otherwise all the cards will fall down together. The rich, they need the poor.

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        #4
        Originally posted by ChimpMaster View Post
        The rich, they need the poor.
        So we are actually all in this together? Sounds like OwlHoot's thread is relevant....

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          #5
          The writer's point sounds confused to me. I'm not really sure what he's suggesting.
          We live in a country where money *IS* debt. If we all pay off our debts there would be no money.
          So it's not clear to me what the nature of the 'growth' that he talks about is, which should come about without debt.

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            #6
            I once got lost in Elephant & Castle and found myself on the Old Kent Road. Thanks to Monopoly, it was oddly reassuring; a vague sense of "Well at least it's somewhere I know" even though I'd never been there before

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              #7
              I assume growth can only occur when you have something of value, whose cost is greater than that of production, and that value is driven by demand.

              The only thing we're exporting of value is WMD's, houses, & terrorists.
              "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

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                #8
                Originally posted by SpontaneousOrder View Post
                The writer's point sounds confused to me. I'm not really sure what he's suggesting.
                We live in a country where money *IS* debt. If we all pay off our debts there would be no money.
                So it's not clear to me what the nature of the 'growth' that he talks about is, which should come about without debt.
                At the moment there are only 2 reasons we have any growth. Immigration and housing boom. The only reason we have a housing boom is help to buy and a flood of credit.

                In Germany and Japan they get growth without debt - largely because other countries are stupid enough to borrow to the hilt to buy their goods. Unless we decide not to honour our debts that is.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post
                  At the moment there are only 2 reasons we have any growth. Immigration and housing boom. The only reason we have a housing boom is help to buy and a flood of credit.

                  In Germany and Japan they get growth without debt - largely because other countries are stupid enough to borrow to the hilt to buy their goods. Unless we decide not to honour our debts that is.
                  Does Japan not have debt?
                  The material prosperity of a nation is not an abiding possession; the deeds of its people are.

                  George Frederic Watts

                  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postman's_Park

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by speling bee View Post
                    Does Japan not have debt?
                    Spanning generations.

                    "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." and "And like that, he's gone."
                    "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

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