Our lords and masters on both sides of the Atlantic have allowed unprincipled, greedy, selfish, so-called financiers to line their pockets with fat profits and bonuses (even for failing), and have only just woken up to the seriousness of having a poorly regulated capitalistic system operate inside a moral vacuum.
So now we have the ludicrous spectacle of governments (again on both sides of the Atlantic) proposing to nationalise banks. It's even more of a ludicrous spectacle in the USA where the mother of all capitalist systems currently in the hands of a right-wing free-market administration is having to consider what can only described as Socialist measures!
I woke up this morning to learn that a quarter of my savings now rests with a Spanish bank, (Santander having agreed to buy the savings section of our collapsing Bradford & Bingley Bank; the mortgage side of the business, i.e., the "toxic" side, is now in the hands of the UK Government, aka the taxpayers).
I can still remember the far-off days when banks were regarded as safe, respectable institutions. When I got my first bank loan I was interviewed by a gentleman old enough to be my grandfather who quizzed me on my job, my prospects, my salary, and my ability to pay back the loan over an agreed number of years. Now, up and until a few short months ago I could get a loan by telling some minion young enough to be my grandson how much I wanted, and then I just filled in a form. Only the other week, I got a cold phone call from some financial institution or other telling me they had received my loan application. When I advised him I had not request a loan recently he asked if I would like one.
As I said before - what a load of bankers!
2 comments:
My advice to you at this moment in time Bradford and Bingley is a dead dog.Sure your british tax payer is footing the bill, that will not last long.I really don't want to spell it out,under the bed looks very safe.
Hi.
Salary caps on bank executives, article in the Economist good idea, a conditionn of approving the bail out loans.After all many of the people who will be leading the effort to get the banks back on there feet will be the same masters of the universe,they that had the insatiable appetite for our hard earned bucks. Like greedy little boys who ate to many sweets which brought the industry to its knees in the first place.
London,England Oct8/2008.
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