Reports that the mortgage provider Permanent TSB is set to raise interest rates by 1% has sent a wave of fear through many households. The rise in the standard variable rate will add €60 to every €100,000 borrowed. Once this increase goes through, other mortgage providers will follow. These will include companies who have received huge bail outs from Irish taxpayers.
Councillor Gino Kenny, the People Before Profit candidate for Dublin Mid West, has claimed that these rises will trigger a social crisis of massive proportions.
The UCD economist Morgan Kelly recently claimed “that gathering mortgage crisis puts Ireland on the cusp of a social conflict on the scale of the Land War”. The mortgage increases are a time bomb that is ticking away at the heart of Irish society. Already one in ten mortgage holders are in difficulty and the interest rate hikes will push many more over the edge. We cannot keep on bailing out banks while they simultaneously try to solve their problems by squeezing families dry. It is time to stop the blame game and openly acknowledge that the mortgage crisis is not just an individual problem. The elite structures of Irish society pushed hundreds of thousands of people onto unsustainable mortgages through a policy of reducing social housing and stimulating the property bubble. "We need a clear change of policy and I propose three measures to help those in mortgage difficulties.
The UCD economist Morgan Kelly recently claimed “that gathering mortgage crisis puts Ireland on the cusp of a social conflict on the scale of the Land War”. The mortgage increases are a time bomb that is ticking away at the heart of Irish society. Already one in ten mortgage holders are in difficulty and the interest rate hikes will push many more over the edge. We cannot keep on bailing out banks while they simultaneously try to solve their problems by squeezing families dry. It is time to stop the blame game and openly acknowledge that the mortgage crisis is not just an individual problem. The elite structures of Irish society pushed hundreds of thousands of people onto unsustainable mortgages through a policy of reducing social housing and stimulating the property bubble. "We need a clear change of policy and I propose three measures to help those in mortgage difficulties.
1. We need to declare an economic emergency. During this period, mortgage companies should be forbidden from re-possessing the houses of any family that can prove financial distress.
2. The government must impose a price control decree to prevent any rise in mortgages that is more than 1 percent above European base rate on interest.
3. Mortgages holders must be given the option of an escape from lifelong debt enslavement. In the US, ‘jingle key’ laws allow the mortgage holders to hand back the keys of their property to the lender without incurring lifelong debt. In Ireland, however, the law favours the financial vampires who can enforce permanent debt imprisonment. This legislation must be changed immediately.
2. The government must impose a price control decree to prevent any rise in mortgages that is more than 1 percent above European base rate on interest.
3. Mortgages holders must be given the option of an escape from lifelong debt enslavement. In the US, ‘jingle key’ laws allow the mortgage holders to hand back the keys of their property to the lender without incurring lifelong debt. In Ireland, however, the law favours the financial vampires who can enforce permanent debt imprisonment. This legislation must be changed immediately.
