WE like to think of the gamblers with our money on internet and those who are taking vast rewards of money in their bonuses as responsible for the 'crunch', but, perhaps, we should look at other things.
Our industries have collapsed partly due to the fact that they cannot compete pricewise with countries where labour is cheap. Yet we demand ever cheaper prices from our supermarkets and on the internet. These goods are often of poorer quality and are throw-away goods.
The internet is making us want instant action. We are buying the cheapest foods, often to eat before the TV, not as a family. There is no doubt that this affects our health now and in the future. We in Chepstow, as I have said before, are affecting the health of our children and some vulnerable adults. We have only ourselves to blame for the pressure that the internet is putting on all work, and, another thing, our uneconomic way of transport.
Many are overloaded and many children are in despair or show their reaction to our present way of life in violent manners. This information age is putting pressure on all our nervous systems and the present worrying news does not help. Now is a time to sort out priorities. One is that borrowing has to be controlled. We cannot, as housekeepers, spend our way out of the situation, and we cut our own throats by bargain-hunting.
Go to charity shops if you want cheap goods. This will have the added affect of helping people who are much worse off than ourselves, whom we have preyed on for their cheap labour and often are literally starving. Let us get together as a community and decide how we can help the situation.
I have lived through the Second World War and know how people have the resources. Remember, though, the Earth resources are finite. It is up to us to use things properly. There are children of the future.
We are past the point of individual wants. Let us work together for all. – Margaret Davis, Chepstow.