In 2008, UK households saved virtually nothing. Certainly, there were some people who put a few quid away, but as a nation as a whole, we stopped saving. The future? Growing old? Well, that is something that happens to other people. We spend now, hoping that someone else will look after us when we go gray and saggy.
Or perhaps the spenders got it right. With the equity market collapsing, banks failing, and interest rates on deposits now zero, the rational thing was to spend. If anyone did try to save, the likelihood was that the accumulated wealth would be destroyed by crashing asset prices.
Nevertheless, I can't help feeling that this country is heading for a terrible reckoning for the excesses of the last ten years. Poverty, particularly in old age, is the future waiting for the great spenders of this generation.
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