Debt – Sleepwalking into Slavery

Debt is at the heart of the problems facing the modern world.

We have allowed it to assume unsustainable proportions without fully understanding its consequences.

It’s become an acceptable burden we must all take on huge debts and be enslaved to financial organisations for life - just to participate in everyday activities.

Whether it’s buying a home or borrowing to run a business or simply playing our role as dutiful consumers, debt levels have reached a saturation point.

We have all somehow slept walked into slavery.

Nationally, our government tells us they must borrow multiple billions of pounds to finance the NHS, education, and public services and yet still we are at breaking point.

The State and democracy is failing us. Debts are piling up. The two are not unrelated.

My view is we need to reset completely. I believe unsustainable levels of borrowing will play a major role in what will be the next imminent financial crash.

Looking back, why did we choose to pour billions of pounds into propping up the banking corporations in 2008?

Their own poor business practices had caused them to become failed organisations – and money belonging to their customers was at risk.

We cannot repeat the mistakes of the 2008 crisis - we let them convince us we should give them more of our money to keep banks solvent.

This next financial crisis will be a real reckoning, greater from the last one – and we will soon have to face another moment of choice.

The taxpayer - that’s you and me - cannot bail out the banks again.

That’s why we should start a national conversation about another way of running our financial system – one that cares for PEOPLE, PLACE and PLANET.

What if we could remove all the debt from the system and start afresh?

Why not set up a network of genuine regional lenders in the form of civic trusts with an asset lock restricting the use of profit to the purpose of the trust, mandated to fund public services and support local businesses and communities.

We must change from a lending system designed to damage relationships to one designed to build relationships. In the new system interest rates would be zero and the lenders would only have to cover their administrative costs. Debts that cannot be repaid would be waived every 7 years. The desire to succeed would be channeled into building healthy relationships within the family and community, rather than into accumulating wealth.

We have a choice to break this cycle – and create something that works for everyone, for the greater good.

After all, Einstein said the definition of insanity is repeating the same action expecting a different result.

Imagine a debt free world, and affordability for all. Utopian but yes, achievable! #phillipullmann #nhs #ukdebtcrisis #ukdebt #debtproblems #thoughtleader