The Debt – Over a hundred years on and never so relevant

This is a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and American poet that died in 1906. Over a hundred years, and as the Credit Crunch tightens it grip on the global economy it still strikes a cord.

THIS is the debt I pay
Just for one riotous day,
Years of regret and grief,
Sorrow without relief.
Pay it I will to the end
Until the grave, my friend,
Gives me a true release
Gives me the clasp of peace.
Slight was the thing I bought,
Small was the debt I thought,
Poor was the loan at best God!
but the interest!

In the US there has been a 93% jump in filings for repossession. In the UK we have a similar problem with a 41% rise in repossessions.

If we continue to rely on credit and keep pursuing the acquisition of material wealth and the banks want to keep giving us the credit even if they know there’s a good chance we can’t pay it back, then we can expect a life on the treadmill chasing the Dollar, Pound, Yen and every other denomination.

The causes of the Credit Crunch is well documented, the solution as to how we are going to prevent it happening again is not. Will governments watch the banks more closely to stop their greed getting the best of them? Will consumers learn that there is more to life than coveting material possessions? Will we learn to manage our finances more intelligently, saving as well as consuming? Or will Paul Dunbars poetry be a relevant in another hundred years as it is today?