Submitted on Monday 10th March 2008
48% of Brits worried about debt
A survey of 3000 Brits by the Cooperative Building Society revealed that 48% were concerned about the level of their debts and 80% were concerned about their lack of savings
The Cooperative speculate that the average Brit spends two years of their life worrying about debt
This is quite an interesting comment on the British psyche and contrasts with nations like Japan and Germany where saving money is much more culturally enshrined
If this turns out to be representative of the average Brit it begs a few serious questions that are likely to be increasingly asked over the coming months.
Do we need to return to a more frugal lifestyle spending less and saving more?
Is this even possible for many people given the cost of basic necessities and levels of debt?
Is the country no longer truly capable of strongly competing in the new global arena and maintaining a good standard of living and public services and has been disguising this fact using freely available debt both as individuals and through institutional and government borrowing?
It is certainly easy in this context to understand how important house prices in the UK are in terms of maintaining morale and confidence.
Soul serarching on these issues is likely to become a national preoccupation as the credit crunch starts to focus attention on underlying issues
