One side of mammoth to go, please...

It might be seen as stating the Surprisingly Obvious – but I blame the current recession on Retail Therapy.

This statement might appear to have nothing at all to do with the headline of this post but please bear with me for a minute. I’m sure you’ll all agree, there's nothing as satisfying as walking away from the shops with a ‘bargain’. We get a real buzz out of any new purchase, be it a car, a wide-screen plasma television set, the latest mobile phone, a new outfit, even something a simple as a pair of shoes.

Well I’m no psychologist but I have a theory on this. Back in the good old days of Hunter-Gathering, any Neolithic caveman could arrive back at the den come dinnertime carrying his side of the mammoth that he and his best mate had knocked over that day, knowing that he’d provided for the family and feeling that he’d done a good day’s work. Similarly his partner could show him the bushel of berries or the mixed nut selection that she had gathered during the day. Together with their kids, man and woman could enjoy the fruits of their labours.

But today, after working a forty, fifty or even sixty-hour week, what do we have to show for it? Maybe we arrive back home with a pay packet – really just a wad of paper notes. But nowadays, more often than not, all we have is a pay slip, weekly, fortnightly or even monthly, advising us that the balance of our bank account has been changed. The reality is that our credit with our bank has increased as a result. But to us, emotionally, this is all just abstract numbers. Our inner selves need something more tangible. We really want that experience of walking through the door with our side of mammoth.

In order to feel truly fulfilled and emotionally satisfied, we must convert the wad of paper in our pay packet, or the abstract figures in our bank account, into something real – something that shows the fruits of our labours, something that shows how good we are at providing. So how do we do this? We hit the shops, and spend, spend, spend! And there are whole industries out there devoted to taking our money.

Of course, the good people at our banks that look after our money are shrewd. They know how much we like to spend and how good it makes us feel. And they are prepared to borrow money that we haven’t earned yet, lend it to us to buy the things what we would like to own but can’t afford just yet, and make a tidy sum on the interest payments. Result – we happily borrow this ready cash so that we can buy bigger and fancier sides of mammoth, covered with bling and all the latest features that show all our friends how good we are at providing.

And this is all very well and good – until the credit runs out...