The slice-of-life radio documentary show This American Life has just put out a show on the U.S. housing/credit crisis. TIL does an excellent job of teasing out the complex causes and devastating consequences of the subprime disaster.
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Tags: debt, documentary, economics, money, U.S. politics
With Canadians’ debt levels at record highs and the U.S. economy in the midst of a massive housing/credit deflation, Briarpatch takes a sorely needed critical, radical look at the politics of money and debt in this issue. From exposing the spectre of diabolical materialism to offering “concrete” investment strategies and tools for getting out of debt, from profiling alternative currencies to outlining the options for conscientious objection to military taxation, Briarpatch puts its money where its mouth is.
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“Buy this car to drive to work
drive to work to pay for this car.”
Metric
When the world is combusting all around us, it seems a little petty to devote an entire issue of Briarpatch to questions of debt and personal finance. But in many ways, the subject couldn’t be more pressing or more in need of radical intervention. Canadians’ debt levels have never been higher, and widespread indebtedness, in addition to serving as an effective vehicle for transferring more wealth to the wealthy, also acts as a powerful means of social control. Debt restricts people’s choices, compelling them to work longer hours at jobs they hate, and limits their ability to unplug from the engine of growth and to seek out alternate ways of sustaining themselves and their communities.
By Calvin Neufeld
Briarpatch Magazine
May 2008
The plan: save money, buy land, build a house, grow food, heat with wood, quit jobs, and self-sustain — all without going into debt.
Although I was raised in the suburbs of Montreal, my life today resembles that of my Mennonite ancestors. In the winter I bathe in a tub of snow (melted and heated first, of course). I live in a one-room house without electricity or plumbing. I do my business in an outhouse, or sometimes, to my wife’s displeasure, in the great outdoors. I cut and chop all of my own firewood, and gather twigs almost daily for kindling. It’s hard work, but it pays off. The earth isn’t the only beneficiary of this lifestyle, either; this is my ticket to financial independence.
Tags: debt, money, radical simplicity, testimonial
By Geordie Gwalgen Dent
Briarpatch Magazine
May 2008
Ah, springtime, 1930. U.S. stock markets had slightly recovered from the “Black Tuesday” crash of the year before. Credit was cheap and the Western world was spending freely. Though people had been spooked, optimism reigned again. Few people knew that the entire global economy was on the edge of a precipice and about to begin a slow, brutal, downward spiral that would usher in almost a decade of misery for countless Canadians and others around the world.
If you’ve been following the recent financial news about the “subprime crisis” closely, some of this might sound eerily familiar. This financial fiasco involving thousands of mortgage defaults in the U.S. was considered by many to be a minor bump in the road when it made headlines last August. And now? The U.S. is in recession and there is speculation it will spread to other countries.
Tags: debt, economics, housing, money, U.S. politics
By Dave Oswald Mitchell
Briarpatch Magazine
May 2008
“The rich ruleth over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender.”Proverbs 22:7
Reasons to get out:
1. We are a nation of debt slaves
“Debt throughout most of history has been little more than a slight variation on slavery,” wrote Michael Hudson in his prescient May 2006 article in Harper’s (”The New Road to Serfdom: An illustrated guide to the coming real estate collapse”). Today, however, perceptions have changed to such a degree that a mortgage is now seen as an “investment,” and levels of personal indebtedness for both Canadians and Americans have never been higher.
The Vanier Institute of the Family recently reported that Canadians’ household debt rose seven times faster than income between 1990 and 2007. This debt now represents a record 131 per cent of average household income, meaning that for every $100 of net income earned in Canada last year, $131 was owed.
By Kubate Baba Edward
Briarpatch Magazine
May 2008
My thoughts on money and investing have been shaped by my upbringing. I was raised in a 20-person household in northern Ghana. Six of us shared a small hut, beautifully roofed with thatch. The rest of my relatives lived in adjacent huts. We sustained ourselves on earnings from a small rice and millet farm. Whatever little money or food came into the home was shared equally among us.
Life with six people in a small hut was not easy. We would clamour for space like an elephant trying to enter a pigeonhole. I was often embarrassed when friends came from the city to visit me. Accommodating these friends often meant having to sacrifice my sleeping space and pass the night outside in the cold. This experience lingered in my mind and compelled me to own my own house, even if it meant the last drops of my blood.
Tags: debt, investing, money, testimonial
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