When I was a child, I often wondered how come the world was shaped so precisely that many people earned only just enough money to keep their families together and a roof over their heads.
As an adult, I increasingly realised that global levels of market supply and demand dictate the welfare of individual nations and their peoples – living under a profit system that seeks the lowest priced labour, goods and services.
This thought came back to me this morning when reviewing new research by moneysupermarket.com that says six in ten UK households would relieve their financial worries with as little as an extra £1,000 (equivalent of just under £20 a week) cash injection.
But surely any society which has embraced capitalism for over 200 years must have figured out how to make life’s material essentials – food, shelter and heat – affordable to all? Not so! According to the fresh data, a quarter of UK households couldn’t survive for more than a week should their income dry up suddenly.
2012 Top Financial ‘Fears’ according to moneysupermarket.com:
| Rising cost of utility bills | 43% |
| Rising cost of food | 34% |
| Rising cost of petrol | 33% |
| Losing my job | 16% |
| Not being able to save money | 16% |
(Perhaps surprisingly, not being able to meet mortgage or rent repayments came 11th in the table at 4%.)
Outright slavery may have been abolished throughout modern societies, but economic bondage is clearly still alive – albeit increasingly unwell.
