Inequality

Because almost all of our money is ‘on loan’ from banks, someone has to pay interest on nearly every pound in the UK. This interest redistributes money from the bottom 90% of the population to the very top 10%. Meanwhile, inflated house prices and financial instability all lead to a growing gap between the poor and the rich.

1. The system distributes money from everyone to the banks

Because 97% of the money in the UK is created by banks, someone must pay interest on nearly every pound in the UK. The bottom 90% of the UK pays more interest to banks that they ever receive from banks, which means that there is a distribution of income from 90% of the population to the top 10%. Collectively we pay £165m every day in interest on personal loans alone (not including mortgages), and a total of £213bn a year in interest on all our debts.

2. It transfers money from businesses to the banks

Businesses are also in a similar situation. The ‘real’ (non-financial), productive economy needs money to function, but because all money is created as debt, that sector will also end up paying interest to the banks. This means that the real-economy businesses - shops, offices, factories etc – end up subsidising the banking sector.

3. The instability that the system causes means that temporary and low-paid jobs are insecure

When banks cause a financial crisis by creating too much money it leads to unemployment. It tends to be low-paid and temporary contract workers who are the first to get made redundant, meaning that the instability in the economy has a bigger effect on those on low incomes with insecure jobs.

4. High house prices increase inequality

When house prices are pushed up by banks creating money, those on low incomes suffer most. People on low incomes often can’t get a mortgage big enough to buy a house, which means they don’t benefit from any rise in house prices. Meanwhile, those who can get access to mortgages can buy multiple houses for buy-to-let and benefit from artificial inflation in house prices. Younger people also lose out, as the cost of buying their first house swallows an ever larger amount of their income, while older and retired people who own houses benefit. This all increases inequality across different income groups and between the young and old.