World Feels The Effects Of Debt

The spending habits of people in the U.K. depend on where they live. The people in more urban areas are more likely to spend liberally as opposed to those who live in more rural areas.This is partially because of the fact that social activities such as eating out and going to movies is more readily available to people in towns and cities. The people in the urban areas can afford to spend more on luxury items because higher paying jobs are available to them in the cities. Of course everyone is feeling the credit crunch even in London where foreclosures have risen sharply over the last two years with more and more people are relying their credit cards. The number of foreclosures has risen sixteen percent over the entire country during last year in a half. The country has not seen these kind of housing problems since the early 1990s. With the loss of equity in homes we are seeing more and more people depend on credit cards to buy everyday items.

Even developers who are trying to prepare for the 2012 London Olympic Games are having trouble getting loans from banks to work on those projects. Credit card companies in the United Kingdom are reporting an increase in late and interest payments. The overall individual's debt in Great Britain is double that of any other Western European country. Because of these increased debt numbers and bankruptcies advocacy groups such as the The Federation of Small Businesses within the country are calling for credit card rate caps.

Visa Europe has pledged not to raise interest rates as quickly on small businesses if they get in trouble. The same kind of protection does not appear to extend to the average British consumer. The British Finance Minister has offered further training for people in financial literacy and has also requested that people offering credit use discretion. The government is not likely to play hardball with these companies given the lackluster employment numbers not only in Britain, but around the world.

I think most people view these issues as a bump in the road and once the storm calms they will continue their usual spending habits. To ask them to truly change their lifestyle and give up tyheir usual comforts is probably simply too much to ask. Thousands upon thousands of their neighbors can have their items legally taken due to debt and it is just the nature of certain groups of people not to notice. Frankly the key is just to find the right mixture of personal responsibility and compassion when dealing with the problem of overspending and the individual calamities that can result. Government certainly cannot solve all these problems alone. We all have to take some responsibility and live within our means.

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