Personal and Corporate Debt—When Will We Learn the Lessons of History?

Judging from current financial opinion, perhaps never. Debt is

the driving force of America’s consumer society. But at what price to human

values?

Values? What would possibly be the human values

connected to excessive debt?

For starters, wage growth, a

rebirth of the middle class, the ability in these troubled times to save for a

home, educate our children, buy a new sofa and escape the slavery of a

credit-card lifestyle.

That’s it folks, we’ve become

slaves to credit. Slavery is defined as the state of being under the control

of another person, as well as work done under harsh conditions for

little or no pay.

In America alone, debt connected to

credit-cards, auto and college loans surpass $1 trillion in each

category.

In today’s gig economy, with workers being increasingly

hired as independent contractors, a living wage, paid holidays, health

insurance, profit-sharing, union representation and pension plans are all

off-the-table. What is that, if not financially engineered slavery?