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Debt

In other words: the debt that is now dragging us all down is not the result of lazy Greek workers, benefit scroungers or illegal immigrants being personally handed bundles of cash by Gordon Brown, but was absolutely necessary for the massive transition from national to globalised production during the 1980s and 1990s. The credit bubble was not a mistake, but a necessity and now that it has burst the costs are being passed on to those who did not create it but who are chained into an economic system that allows no escape, unless you have access to offshore havens. Peter Thompson, The Guardian

Been reading quite a lot on debt recently, as well as the difference between now and the mid–70s. In one era housing was something you didn’t have to worry about. Now you do. So not only are wages lower and hours longer, you’re now spending what money you do earn on something the state would have provided 30 odd years ago. And it’s worse quality, built for profit rather than living.

And yet there’s no general sense that things are worse than the 1970s. Is that not crazy? Is ownership so inherently wonderful?