On the day that the Treasury Select Committee skewered the FSA for its role in the Northern Rock crisis, the Telegraph features a thought-provoking article by Charles Moore – suggesting that consumers join the financial regulators in taking a long, hard look in the proverbial mirror.
Moore places Northern Rock’s downfall in a societal and historical context; characterising it as a symptom of lax Western attitudes towards borrowing and spending. There’s no totally innocent party here – companies peddle a “lifestyle”; consumers buy into it; and banks fund them. As Moore puts it:
“The consumer dream is summed up in that advertisement for the cosmetic company – ‘Because you’re worth it.’
For the banks, the task has become to make it seem that you are, literally, worth it. They have tried to unlock the financial potential lurking in unlikely places. Rising house prices, in particular, have allowed them to persuade people that their home is like a cash machine.
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