Get out of debt

David Cameron in his leader's speech to the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister will urge the nation to pay off personal debt to help boost the faltering UK economy. Personal debt has reached almost £1.5 trillion . Average household debt, excluding mortgages, is now more than £21,000.

Consumer groups accused Cameron of taking a simplistic and unrealistic approach to a problem exacerbated by public-sector pay freezes and growing unemployment. A Citizens Advice Scotland spokesman said:
"It is far too simplistic to say that everyone in debt should simply pay off their debts, and that would solve the problem. Most people who are in debt would love to do that, if only they could. But how can you pay off your debts if you have lost your job, or if your income is barely enough to cover your basic living costs from week to week? That's the reality for many of the people we see."

Andrew Hagger, head of communications at Moneynet.co.uk, said: "I'm sure many people in the real world would love to be in a position to pay down their debts. However, faced with a pay freeze or pay cut on one hand and soaring household expenses on the other, there is little disposable income available to pay for non-essential items. Others are building up their emergency fund savings as they are concerned for the safety of their jobs.The government has failed to keep inflation under control and should focus on keeping the cost of petrol, food and energy in check rather than expecting the public to magic extra money out of a hat. These are the toughest economic times people have faced in a decade - some are struggling to pay for the bare essentials, let alone paying off a little extra on their credit cards. It's time for the government to wise up."

Capitalism drives and presses us all to buy to the limits of our means, and offers devices such as our credit card by which those limits may be apparently stretched. Most people under capitalism exist in quiet desperation, hair-breadths away from calamity. To talk of the proliferation of debt as a consequence of irresponsibility, of failing to cut coats according to the cloth, is beside the point. For the great majority, there chronically isn’t enough cloth to keep out the cold. Debt is a demonstration of the inescapable poverty problem of the working class.