When The Morning Came

They's always worked hard and worked together.

They looked out for each other and their children.

Over the years wages had never risen but the cost of living, food, fuel and mortgage rates had rocketed.

They found it a struggle to feed themselves and had gone through the pain of having to use food banks. They could not tel their employers as that was a sacking offence.

Theire employers, like many with the collusion of the current government exploited their workers through fear.

That night they had sat down with a pen and sheet of paper and their old computer using Google Sheets, and when everything was in, they were two hundred pounds a month short.

Financial advisers and their bank suggested they found extra work, sold their house or else foreclosure was inevitable.

They knew that if they lost the house they could not afford to rent so they would be homeless, and the chances were the children would be taken into care.

They hardly slept that night, and they got up to check their bank account online in the morning. They had a three hundred pound overdraft but were very close to that, but they hoped they'd have enough money for the bus fare to work, otherwise they would have to walk.

Luckily their children's school was close so they walked every day and had lunch prepared.

They logged on and were shocked.

Their balance was zero.

Their overdraft was still three hundred pounds so it looked like there was money available, but there were no transactions on their account.

This was weird, what was wrong?

They then checked their Building Society Account.

The mortgage debt was zero, it had been cleared, but there were, again no transactions.

They switched on the TV, and the news was coming in that every debt had been cleared by hackers. Saving had not been touched, but world debt had been cleared.

Because, over ten years back every financial institution had digitised all records, there was no way they could reinstate the debt. There were no hard copies, and digital backups had been wiped as well.

They went and tried the local cash machine and drew out two hundred pounds. They came home and checked their account online and it still showed zero.

There was an announcement that people would be unable to draw cash until the situation was properly addressed, but that was a lie. The hackers made sure that every cash machine would still function, although they would eventually run out of physical cash.

Loans had also been cleared as well, people now really owned what they had bought.

The financial world was in turmoil.

Bills, Standing Orders and Direct Debits were being paid and the accounts remained at zero.

the hackers had complete control of every financial network and the institutions had no way to stop it.

When the cash ran out, cards were still honoured and the accounts remained at zero.

No transactions were recorded but everyone got paid what they needed to be paid.

Bailiffs were soon out of work, but they were not in a difficult financial position for obvious reasons.

The financial institutions issued statements saying that they believed their customers would honour their debt but the customers, who realised they had been taken advantage of for decades, were having none of it.

Life had suddenly become very good for everyone.

Even the bankers were OK when they realised that all their transactions would be accepted.

Debt was gone.

People still went to work, but now they weren't too bothered about what they were paid because they had access to all that they needed.

This was a beautifully perfect morning for everyone.