The money trap - Sustain a thread of humanity

THIS IS probably the worst time of the year to be short of cash, a truly appalling time to be poor.

It can even be a difficult time for many families whose primary breadwinners have decent, ordinary jobs. Any family on the Bertie Figure or less — as defined by our Taoiseach’s pay rise of €38,000 — will be feeling the pinch as we charge towards the annual consummation of our commitment to conspicuous consumption.

The Central Statistics Office tells us that more than a million Irish workers earn less than our Taoiseach’s pay rise as their annual income.

Yesterday, the country’s credit unions issued a warning that shows our credit-card-waving materialism in a stark light. They warned that a substantial number of people are likely to fall into the clutches of money lenders, those most voracious and exploitative opportunists, to fund their Christmas celebrations.

Research completed by the Centre for Co-operative Studies shows that 39% of people at post offices on welfare payment days were in debt to money lenders and that another 40% had used their services in the past. It has become almost unacceptable to criticise any aspect of Christmas without getting the baa-humbug response, the Scrooge put-down.

Surely the central meaning and enduring attraction of this increasingly secular festival is its universal nature, its aspiration toward goodness and its celebration of love. Anything, even if it is our own excesses, that distracts from those objectives misses the point — diluting the spirit of it all.

Any pressure that moves anyone to sign on a money lender’s dotted line at a crucifying annual percentage rate as high as 188.5% is indeed baa-humbug of the worst kind.

Doubly so in a tiny country like ours where, as is pointed out elsewhere on this page, there are 33,000 millionaires, an increase of 10% over 2006. About 3,000 people are worth more than €5 million, about 300 top the €30m mark.

Just like the poor, the rich will always be with us, but it is difficult to understand — or accept — the circumstances and prospects of citizens at the opposite ends of the wealth spectrum should be so different.

Just like the hypocrisy of the Taoiseach advocating wage restraint after securing the Bertie Figure, it is hypocritical of us to celebrate our great good fortune by creating an environment, an expectation, that will bring misery to a substantial section of our community.

That’s not baa-humbug or even a little bit of Scrooge speak, it’s just trying to sustain a thread of humanity through the tinsel and Christmas lights.

Life can be terribly unfair and it would be a pity if we made it even more so by making Christmas a festival of stock-taking and acquisition rather than that which it might be.