Great expectations

14th December 2007: This morning, my friend Pete Connor and I had breakfast with the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England (OK, us and 150 other people).

With a credit crisis looming and the unprecedented announcement yesterday that a group of central banks are to inject £50 billion into the economy to steady the markets, the timing could hardly have been better. Rachel Lomax comes with one of the most impressive CVs I have ever read (is there anything this woman hasn't done?), and as expected she was infomative on the underlying state of the economy and what the bank is doing to address the short term crisis.

However, the comment that really struck me was in response to a question about consumer confidence. Ms Lomax concluded that "it should remain quite resilient in the short term, because consumers tend to base their spending on expectation of lifetime earnings". Firstly, I have a problem with the idea that credit-card fuelled consumption of more material goods offers an answer to anything (it just so doesn't). But that aside, Lomax's analysis of consumer attitudes is truly frightening. It would appear that we have all already mortgaged our futures in order to fund our current lifestyles, and are effectively committed to spend the rest of our working lives paying them off.

Suffering from stress? Want to spend more time with your family? Like to travel? Want to respond to the call of God on your life? Well sorry - we gave you the money for that house / car / holiday / gadget on the basis of your 'expected lifetime earnings', so now you'd better get on and earn them. No excuses. Go read the small print. Lomax has unwittingly revealed the blueprint for a modern form of slavery. We are slaves not to another human being, but to an even harsher master: our own and everyone else's expectations of the kind of lifestyle we 'ought' to have. No wonder Jesus says that we have only 2 choices: serve God or serve money.

200 years ago, William Wilberforce dedicated his political life to 'the abolition of slavery and the reformation of manners' (ie morals). He was famously successful. According to the Deputy Governor, however, it seems that the old enemy may be back on its feet and ready for a re-match.