Plenty of financial concerns have struck the UK and Australia in parallel in recent months, and not all directly as a cause of the global slowdown either.
There’s been the odd major banking scandal; the issue of fee-driven banking products; and the issue of payday loans, which is also gripping both countries.
Now the focus turns to individuals and, more specifically, the issue of bonuses.
Payday loans company Wonga has come under attack for targeting their extortionate rate loans towards students.
The firm, which offers loans at a staggering 4,214% APR, has been forced to withdraw a page of its website that promoted its own short-term, high-interest loans over the standard student loan rate.
“The Wonga Advantage”
“Robbing the poor to feed the rich”
The ‘banking crisis’ is set to strike a new low in confidence at the end of 2011. And there is no Eurozone to blame here; it is a situation entirely of UK banks’ own making.
This week has been a decidedly poor one for banks, and has highlighted several problems endemic within the financial system.
They say that money can’t buy you happiness. But what does bring happiness, and can it survive in this global financial downturn that shows little sign of abating?
The UK government’s plans to monitor the wellbeing of its citizens through a ‘happiness survey’ have humoured and horrified its populace in equal measure.
But the choices and priorities that people are having to make in different economic environments are decidedly revealing in how we view British levels of consumer confidence and attitudes towards life. One example that stands out vividly this week is the approach to marriage.
