Welcome to Subprime Britain. How Scared Should You Be?
Spectator, The; London › August 26, 2009
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Summary
The 'prosperity' which Gordon Brown has boasted about for the last 11 years was bought on the never-never, a 'golden age' on tick. Householders were encouraged to borrow against their inflated house prices -- with euphemistic phrases, like 'equity withdrawal', making such transactions sound like a visit to a cashpoint. Now, the ten-year debt binge is ending in the hangover which, with each morning's headlines, becomes that bit more painful.
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Welcome to Subprime Britain. How Scared Should You Be?
When London radio news is being sponsored by a firm of bailiffs, you know something bad is happening. 'Helping landlords get what they're owed' runs the cheery slogan at the end of the bulletins. As bad as the financial headlines are, this tells a bigger story than anything captured in the headlines -- proof that the credit crunch is not an abstraction confined to the financial markets, but a bitter reality, already claiming victims and leaving tens of thousands to wonder if they will be next. All over the country, the borrowed penny is dropping.
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