Work: Curse of the Drinking Classes

Unto him that hath shall more be given... seems to apply to debt as well as money. Maybe Jesus wasn’t as much saying how things ought to be as warning us about how they are. This morning’s post brings something I hadn’t seen for a while, what with the credit crunch: an unsolicited offer of an additional credit card.

Nectar/ American Express are willing to loan me money when no-one else can lay hands on the stuff, all for a beguiling 17·8% interest rate! Hang on, UK Bank Rate fell this week to a 315 year low of 1·5%. I wasn’t expecting Bank Rate, but there’s a competitor offering a product that charges 6·3%. 17·8% is Money for old rope; money that could be lent out to businesses struggling to survive, or first time buyers desperate for a roof over their heads.

Yeah, yeah, this is all too simple, of course, but it’s hard not to see this as an invitation for debt drunks to hit the bottle again — Scripture says “the dog returns to its own vomit.” Not so beguiling, perhaps...