The posthumous discount

Italy is a nation founded on the Public Debt. It has solid debt foundations. A secure alibi for the Finance Law. An alibi for new taxes, for the increase of existing taxes.
The Finance Law preserves the public debt. With an imposing public debt reforms are not possible. And everything stays as it is to the happiness of our employees. No government has intervened on public expenditure. Not even Prodi and the Padoa-Schioppa.
If costs go up, taxes go up and the debt holds. The debt is by now a condition of the spirit. It is in the air. To get into debt is a life style. The one who is in credit is a failure.
You need to show off your debts to be somebody. The bigger your personal debt, the greater are your opportunities. You can even become the President of the Council or the director of Telecom. The words… “access to credit” are reassuring . Access to debts sounds worrying. Let us become people in credit not in debt. Banks, finance people, big retailers are all in the front line for the creation of poverty. Through credit.
If I had said to my father that I was taking out a loan with TAEG 20% to go to the Antilles he would have given me a kick up the backside. And then he would have denounced the bank.
The banks always think of our dreams. They want to see them coming to fruition together with the bank interests. At Christmas you are offered the discount if you pay later. A mystery.
If you pay after 6 months you are entitled to the discount with no interest. Not if you pay straight away. A lovely LCD colour TV costs about 1200 Euro. If you pay cash after 6 months it costs you 20% less.
A bargain. But if after 6 months you forget, and the invoice doesn’t arrive or you don’t have the cash what happens? With TAN {annual rate of interest} 17.48%, TAEG {overall rate of interest}18.45% (but they could be higher) for 1000 Euro they arrange 24 monthly payments of 53.40.
The result is 1281.60. The great retailers gain from the debts of their clients. Assisted by the Finance law.
RESET. Return to the culture of saving.
The public debt should be forbidden. Just as has happened for smoking. It is an act of social obscenity. A way of encouraging us to be delinquents against ourselves. For Christmas give yourself a gift. Buy less and only what you can afford.

From Beppe Grillo’s blog.