[I suggest you cover the children's eyes before reading on.]
When I suggest that "sub-prime lending" is simply a euphemism for an appallingly socially destructive phenomenon perpetrated on the weaker members of society by cynical, sardonic greedy vultures displaying utter indifference to the social collapse which is the only possible consequence of this unsustainable policy, I'm putting it mildly.
It is Sunday, after all so I shan't follow up with Andrew Johnson's "viper" epithet.
Just look at this:
Easy credit may leave thousands of teenagers unable to pay their bills, as new figures show that people who apply for credit in the lead-up to Christmas are most likely to default on repayments.This is simply wicked. Unscrupulous, power dressed men and women have been allowed to run riot in society and turn Christmas into a season of debt and delayed misery.
A cocktail of poor financial literacy and savvy marketing means that young people without assets or stable employment are racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt, leaving them facing defaults or even bankruptcy.
In the past three years, the highest number of credit applications in any month has been November — 9.2% compared to the monthly average of 8.3%. Along with December, November leads to the highest number of defaults (3.1% of applications compared to an average of 2.7%), according to figures from credit reporting agency Veda Advantage.
One debt collector said he knew of a major bank that had extended thousands of dollars of credit to customers, knowing they would struggle to pay the debt. "There are people who get limits who quite clearly ought not, and my understanding is the banks have a policy of 'extend credit, get the money out' and just wear the default rate," he said.
"Some of the poor credit of the people was a bit frightening — people even given credit when they're unemployed."
They should be rounded up and transported to Elba or similar, at their own expense. Whatever happened to decency, to the old Arthur Lowe type of bank manager who refused to lend if your collateral was not up to scratch?
Where did integrity go?