The Wednesday moan

There are a few signs of Spring around now in the heart of England. Blossom on the trees, bluebells in the woods and the river is lined with millions of flowers. The weather hasn’t been very good this Spring, we even had snow in March; but the forecasters promise us that it will improve for the weekend.

We need some decent weather to take the edge of our energy bills. The energy companies have been accused of fixing prices again.  They say they need their high profits to replace decaying infrastructure. I think those high profits just attract predators in the form of takeover bids. If they weren’t so greedy they would seek investment from shareholders and use that to improve the infrastructure. That would create jobs and wealth. Their priority should be the welfare of the stakeholders; the customers, the shareholders and the employees. The people who run these companies only seem to care about themselves.

We seem to live in an elitist society, where the people a the top get it all and to hell with the rest of us. I watched Britain’s Got Talent. There can be only one winner, it’s a first past the post voting system that ensures just one person gets the fame, the glory and all the money. It’s the same with institutions, the top universities get all the money and the kids from the private schools so they can produce the like of Cameron, Clegg and Osborne. Are the Oxbridge crowd really worth it with their apparent lack of scruples? A lot of people seem to think they’re worth it these days. They are worth the multi million pound salaries and they deserve the supercars and the mansions while others struggle to find a job or make it to pay day.

Payday loan companies  are another blight on society and they are authorised by the regulators who are just as shameless. We have some new regulators, but they still give the green light to these obnoxious loan sharks. I had a spam email this morning from an American based lender offering me a credit card. You borrow £100 or less  and get charged a massive £15 charge for each £100 borrowed. Borrow £300 and the charge is £45 for the first month. This is what the website says:

If you spent £300 on a purchase transaction at the start of your agreement, incurred total monthly charges of £540 over a period of 20 months and made repayments in accordance with your Terms & Conditions, your APR would be 627% APR representative (variable).

So basically, you borrow £300 and have to pay back £840 over the 20 months and most people will borrow more and even make cash withdrawals so will get really screwed. This card was brought to you by an American company of course. The land of liberal ideas and fair play…

Our town centres now are full of pawn brokers, pay day loan sharks, charity shops and iconic buildings paid for by the arts council or some such body. Gone are the days of getting pick ‘n’ mix in Woolworths and cheap veggies off the market. Many people are thinking of growing their own veggies these days. With water bills running at £40 a month and double that for energy; people  struggle to afford a sandwich, let alone three square meals a day and 5 portions of fruit and veg. Champagne sales are breaking records though…

That’s it for today, have your say in the comments box!

Related articles

• Credit unions get £38m to take on loan sharks (independent.co.uk)

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