All of us nations, individuals and private businesses float on a stormy ocean of debt and think nothing of it, while sirens beckon from the shoals offering immediate gratification of our lurking desires. As I know all too well, it s hard to resist. I guess that s probably why I wasn t all that shocked when I recently opened a menacing letter from a debt collector. Your credit worthiness, it scolded me, is a priceless asset. Utilities check it before agreeing to connect you to their services.
Landlords check it before renting property and banks before granting mortgages.
The letter suggested that my life was on the verge of immediate ruin unless I paid up. I m sceptical. Personally my attitude resembles that of an uncle who, if his bank didn t oblige him, confidently threatened to take his overdraft elsewhere. Nonetheless, it s nearly impossible to make sense of debt and the global financial system without having some grasp of economics, if only to put it in its proper place. What makes this magazine different from the other two is that it s tied directly to the Jubilee 2000 campaign for the cancellation of Third World debt.