I found the article below under the title of "The cursed generation."
It is amazing how much we are still rooted in our past, despite the elightenment and the industrial revolution and the pretence of democracy, we still seem to live in a version of feudalism. Certainly the great land owners and feudal lords have had their powers whilted away, but it has only become possible through decreasing dependance on agriculture. There was a time when most people in the West were serfs. A serf was in everything but name a slave, tied to the land and his or her fuedal Lord. Their life was spent working and indeed fighting on behalf of the feudal Lord. The land could never produce enough to free them selves from the dept to the Lord, and indeed in time of trouble he was the only recourse they had. Thus they became more and more indepted and tied to the master. The indusrial revolution saw serfdome replaced by something perhaps even more permicious, the mill and factory worker. For them the company owner became the new, master. The wages they earned was often not enough to pay for accomadation and food, and an increasing dept cycle enslaved them to the factory. This method of control is of course still going on in third world sweat shop facories. Perhpas we thought that we had escaped such control. It seems not. These days a knew variation of the feudal Lord has taken over. The Bank!
All praise is due to Allah who has warned us and kept us away from riba and all its derivatives, and from dept and its snares. May He guide us to a live a life within our means, and upon gratitiude to Him, the Exhailted.
read these verses if you like:
"Those who eat Riba (usury) will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection) except like the standing of a person beaten by Shaitan (Satan) leading him to insanity. That is because they say: "Trading is only like Riba (usury)," whereas Allah has permitted trading and forbidden Riba (usury). So whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and stops eating Riba (usury) shall not be punished for the past; his case is for Allah (to judge); but whoever returns [to Riba (usury)], such are the dwellers of the Fire - they will abide therein.
Allah will deprive usury of all blessing, but will give increase for deeds of charity: For He loveth not creatures ungrateful and wicked." Quran 2:275-6
Worse off than ever before
With our fast cars, handheld computers and digital television sets, it's easy to feel better off than the previous generation. But there's more to prosperity than electrical goods - and in many ways today's 30 and 40-somethings are worse off than their parents.
A quick glance at house prices helps you understand why. Property values have soared by 171% over the past 10 years. The average house now costs £191,556, up from £70,696 a decade ago. It's a lot of money on any measure, but especially when you consider that wages have not kept pace, rising an average of 50% over 10 years.
High price for family homes
High house prices put the squeeze on family finances. The typical house now costs more than six times the typical salary, according to figures from the Halifax. If you look back a generation, the average property was worth about 2.8 times the average earnings.
If you earn below the average income, it's a struggle. More than 70% of towns are unaffordable to key sector workers. First-time buyers are also finding it hard to get onto the housing ladder. The average house is now beyond the financial reach of a first-time buyer in 466 out of 483 towns in the UK. No wonder the number of first-time buyers fell to about 300,000 in 2007 - the lowest level since 1980 and a 44% drop on 2002's figure of 532,000.
Mortgage slaves
Soaring house prices equal big mortgages. So people in their 30s and 40s are slaves to their home loan. And that makes them slaves to their jobs. But the job market has changed over the past 25 years. Unemployment is thankfully low at below 800,000, a drop of 125,000 over the past year.
But we don't enjoy the same occupational certainty as our parents, many of whom took a job for life. Nowadays we work on the edge, where short-term contracts, freelancing and part-time work are the norm. The lack of job certainty makes us financially precarious. It also means that many of us must forgo the comfort of sick pay, holiday pay and maternity benefits.
Few final salary schemes
We can't even look forward to a decent pension when we retire. Our parents are probably the last generation to enjoy the gold standard of pensions - a final salary scheme. Only about a third of final salary schemes are now open to new members, a figure that is expected to decline. So, our pension won't be linked to our earnings and underwritten by our employers. No, we will have to rely on the stock market to fund our old age.
That's if we bother saving into a pension. More than half of adults don't contribute to any kind of pension, according to the Prudential 2008 Retirement Savings Report. People who choose to save, have halved their contributions over the past 12 months to an average of £144.57 a month.
Inflation issues
If that were not bad enough, it's getting harder to make ends meet because prices are rising. The government's official rate of inflation jumped to 3% in April and is expected to stay above the target of 2% for at least the next two years.
The driving forces behind the rising inflation rate are higher energy and food costs. Wholesale gas prices, for example, have more than doubled since the middle of 2007, prompting the big energy companies to announce gas and electricity price hikes at the beginning of the year. Then there's food. World agricultural prices rose by more than 40% in the year to January 2008. Over the past 12 months, average prices for bread, biscuits and cereals have shot up 8.5%, an all-time record.
Higher taxes
Bigger tax bills don't help. The typical council tax bill, for example, has risen more than 90% over the past decade. In fact, total tax receipts have almost doubled over the past ten years from £289 billion in 2006-07, when Labour came to power, to £520 billion in the last tax year. The increase in the tax take means that families on average paid £5,600 more in tax in real terms in 2007-8 compared with 1996-7, according to figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
What's our solution to our financial problems? We borrow money to make ends meet. So, we take out a bigger mortgage to unlock some of the equity in our home. We run an overdraft, arrange a personal loan or spend on a credit card. We even turn to our parents for help. More than 10 million adult children have "sapped" their parents' savings, according to a report from Scottish Widows. The average amount given by parents to their offspring is £12,300, causing a total savings sap of £55 billion.
Debt mountain
It all adds up to the biggest debt mountain on record. It also adds up to a whole lot of trouble for the next generation. If we have big debts but little or no savings, what's left for our children? How can we give them a financial leg up if we are already on our knees? And they might need our help.
We have lived through an economic boom. But the storm clouds are gathering. The credit crunch dragged growth down to 0.4% in the first three months of the year, the slowest pace for three years, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. The annual growth rate is now about 2.5%, compared with 2.8% in the last three months of 2007.
Official Treasury forecasts suggest the economy will grow by between 1.75% and 2.25% this year. But its predictions are more optimistic than those of most economists. The Bank of England predicts annual growth could drop to as low as 1% over the next two years.
It could get very bloody if house prices continue to fall and unemployment starts to rise.
No legacy worth having
It's not much of a legacy is it? It seems our children will pay the price for our debt-fuelled consumer spending spree. But if they won't inherit any wealth from their cash-strapped parents, at least they might inherit a more responsible attitude to money. Let's hope so, for all our sakes.
Asalamu Alaikum All!!
Alhamdulilah it's been awhile, but it's good to see everything's running smoothly here brother Green!
In reply to this post, I've got to say that I'm APPALLED at the decisions that many fellows Muslims are making when it comes to borrowing money here in Sydney Australia. Apparently, Sheikhs are issuing fatwas that permit taking riba for first home loans only- what on earth is happening?? Is this a sign that the end is near? I know many 'practicing' Muslim families who have taken the plunge, seemingly unrepentive because of these 'so-called' fatwas.
This kind of blantant dis-obedience is contagious where I'm from, I'm sad for what we're further becoming...
peace
Posted by: Umm Rageh | Friday, 14 November 2008 at 12:11