The Post Office Guru

I have a very nice post office. Not only does it provide me with postage stamps, I was also taught kapalabhati by the post mistress's husband. For those who are not yoga mad like me, kapalabhati is a breathing exercise where you force air out though the nose by pulling your tummy in very sharply. Air is then automatically drawn back in through the nose. It is a strong movement and you must build up a rythm like a steam train. As with all breathing exercises, it's best learnt from a teacher. Also called front brain cleanser, kapalabhati has the power to lower blood pressure. And if you use enough force, it should shift some fat from around the abdomen.

But I digress from the main question of this blog which is how much does debt intefere with life. I understand that students starting university this year can expect to leave owing £23K. To me, this is a staggering amount to have hanging on your head as you start out in life. This is before even stepping onto the property ladder. Surely, it must have a detrimental effect on young people's minds and their whole outlook on life.

Which brings me back to the post office. This week's Saturday Guardian was full of interesting articles. And before I even opened it, I bought my copy from the post mistress's daughter whom I know had been working in Ruanda as an economist and was now studying for a PhD at Glasgow University. When I asked her what she was resarching, it turned out to be economic anthropology. Admittedly, I never knew economic anthropology existed, but I was interested to know if she thought that poverty leads to creativity in building wealth. I was thinking of Italian immigrants who left the grinding poverty of Italy to build a better life in the States early in the last century.

Her reply was most interesting, in that it depended on the culture around the poor person. Perhaps in some (Italians) it leads to a gritty determination, but in other cultures such as Africa it wouldn't be the case.

I wonder how creativity (indeed life) is affected by debt in affluent countries. Particularly in young folk such as university students who are no longer studying to better their minds and have a good time (which I confess was my aim in the late 70s and early 80s, supported by the grant system). I may have graduated straight into the 'Labour isn't working' recession of the late 70s, but at least I didn't have a chainball of debt to keep me company. The post mistress's daughter pointed out that students were now consumers of education and as consumers now had to make sure that they were getting their money's worth.

It turns out that Margaret Atwood has written a book on the subject. There was a piece in Saturday's Guardian about the crash and books on the subject (scroll down to see the bit by Margaret Atwood).

I think it is time some research was done on debt and its effects on modern life. Rationing after the war had a positive side effect in that people had never eaten so healthily. I fear that debt might have completely the opposite effect both mentally and physically.