There’s a real sign-of the-times posting on online auction site Ebay this week. Someone (simonsteve1981 is his log-in name, but we’ll just call him Simon) is selling everything he owns. “I wish I didn’t have to do this,” he says, “but I have got into quite a lot of debt and I need a fresh start so I can plan to get my own home and leave my parents’ house… so I am selling EVERYTHING, yes EVERYTHING, I own in one single auction.” Simon’s list of possessions is very, very impressive (he owns every electronic device I have ever heard of – from plasma-screen TVs to multi-media and DVD players, camcorders and, of course, several electric guitars), and he is selling the lot with a reserve price of £9,400. This seems high to me, but I’m assured that it is in fact very low: Simon’s possessions would be worth more were he to sell them one by one and, of course, they cost him considerably more when he bought them all new.
This all begs several questions. Why did he need all this stuff in the first place? How did he fit it all into his bedroom at his parents’ house? Who gave him the credit to buy all this pointless-sounding gadgetry, given that he is clearly quite young (note the electric guitars and the game consoles) and is not a homeowner? And finally, why is he calling a halt to his consumption binge and debt build up now? The last question is the really important one, and the one that would bother Gordon Brown the most, were he the type to spend his spare time browsing Ebay. Because Simon isn’t alone in his sudden urge to sort himself out: these days, the entire nation is spending less and saving more. Only nine months after our biggest spending spree ever (we borrowed £22bn on our credit and debit cards last December), we are actually repaying more on our cards on a monthly basis than we are spending.
This is probably a very sensible tactic for each individual employing it – with firms going bankrupt and jobs being slashed all over the place, a lot of us are going to need all the savings we can get – but it’s horrible news for the chancellor. Retail sales account for 40% of consumer spending in the UK and consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP: as retail spending goes, so goes GDP. And Gordon Brown can’t afford for GDP to miss his forecasts (see our cover story). Why? Because then the failures of his strategies over the last few years will become clear and he’ll have to borrow a great deal more or raise taxes, and either way that will make people like him less. And then, poor man, he might never get to be prime minister.