Chigwell parent Dr N. Gupta tore himself from his dentist’s chair and gave us a passionate exposition of how he saw the global economy. He began with the origins of money, as a more convenient system than simple barter, but quickly moved into, as he saw it, the bizarreness of the current system, where growth, inflation and loss of value are built into the system: to make enough money for the payment of interest, more money has to be lent, at interest, ad infinitum, which leads to the continuous devaluation of money. Those at the top of the pyramid, the bankers who make and lend the money, gain value, at the expense of the ones at the bottom, those who borrow and save. Very interesting and thought-provoking.

Subsequent discussion dwelt on the necessity of economic growth itself.