Last night I whilst my
beloved was preparing tea we opened a bottle of sherry we'd received
as an Xmas pressie. I developed quite a taste for it. We then had a
bottle of plonk with a rather decent curry and I fell asleep whist
watching episodes of "Big Bang Theory". I woke up far later
than I had intended; going to bed still feeling rather refreshed and
consequently forgot to upload yesterday's instalment of my life.
Apologies to anyone who had been waiting for it.
I slept for a while, but
was awoken at 4am by the gentle rhythmic breathing of my beloved. I
lay awake listening to that gentle rhythmic breathing for an hour
before going downstairs to find that Fudge was also snoring like a
warthog.
I had my brekkie, watched
my DVD, and set off to work. As I drove I listened to the radio.
Having had one national mortgage crisis (I fell foul of that one), it
would seem that the country is heading for another. As the pundits
explained the financial problem I couldn't believe my ears. Do people
learn nothing from the
mistakes of the past?
Where I got into
difficulties with my mortgage was that I took out an endowment
mortgage. I borrowed thirty six thousand pounds and arranged to pay
interest on that money for twenty five years on the understanding
that I would make other financial investments which after twenty five
years would pay off that which I had initially borrowed. My "other
financial investments" went pear-shaped, but that's another
rant.
Modern mortgages are done
differently. Rather than arranging a form of borrowing which is more
likely to be repayable, about three million people have over the last
ten years taken out "interest only mortgages" in
which they borrow far more than I ever borrowed. They then pay
interest on that which they have borrowed for twenty five years (but
don't actually repay anything), and after twenty five years they hope
for the best. Under this "interest only mortgage"
scheme there seems to be no incentive to make people pay back that
which they have borrowed; all they have to do is pay the interest on
that sum until such time as the twenty five years are up. Then it's
payback time. And that's where the problem comes.
After twenty five years
people with such a mortgage are expected to have paid back the money
owed. They could either pay it off as they go along, or make
financial investments to pay back that which they owe. (Like I did !)
Some people have made arrangements to pay what they owe. Sensible
people. However others would seem to be waiting for a rich relative
to die in the hope that they will inherit money, or are desperately
hoping to win a fortune on the National Lottery. Apparently there are
over a million people all owing an average of seventy thousand
pounds, none of them with any hope of ever being able to pay off what
they have borrowed.
There was a leading
banker on the radio this morning who was expounding on this problem.
Over the next twenty years the banks are going to want thousands of
pounds back from these million people who have borrowed with no hope
of repaying. Apparently there are "a range of solutions
available". On the one hand the banks might re-possess the
houses to clear the debts. On the other hand the banks might write
off the debts. This banker then went on to say that either of those
solutions would be unlikely, and the radio dropped the matter.
I suspect one million
people owing seventy thousand pounds are hoping that he banks will
also drop the matter.
And so to work. Having
done my bit I came home. As I drove I pondered. Today was election
day. I must cast my vote. For whom should I vote?
The Conservatives had
sent me leaflets for two different candidates for two different
wards. That didn't inspire confidence. Both leaflets ranted about how
terrible the other political parties were and both expounded how
cheap the Conservative controlled county council was; all the time
glossing over the fact that a Conservative run council is always
cheap as it is their policy not to actually provide the services
(that cost a fortune) that one expects of a council . The
Democrap candidate had sent two leaflets both saying that I should
vote for him in order to keep the Conservatives out. Apparently
voting for him is the only way to keep the Conservatives out because
(according to Democrap propaganda) Labour doesn't have a
chance in Ashford. The independent candidate's leaflet effectively
said that everyone else was a bastard, and the Labour candidate (if
indeed there was one) hadn't even bothered sending me a leaflet.
Which was a shame because if he had then I would probably have voted
for him.
After weeks (months and
years!) of having tried to decide for whom I should vote I made my
mind up. I wrote "none are suitable !" across the
ballot form and stuck it in the box. Mind you it's easy to say "none
are suitable !". Getting a politician I would vote for is
rather trickier...
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