Governments and Banks

So now we have seen the unedifying spectre of George Bush pleading on American television for the public to understand why it will be necessary for them to bail out the bankers in order to protect the western financial system which they have all but wrecked.

If they do decide on this course of action it is high time that a new set of rules were put into practice to protect the public from the banks.

In this country the taxpayer owns Northern Rock and apparently it is not the end of the problem. When we had a proper Labour party with proper values they would never have stood by and watched the bankers award themselves obscene bonuses simply for doing their jobs. It has encouraged them to take ridiculous risks in order to boost profits and earn these bonuses. Consequently it has all come down on everyone's head, crippled the housing market and ruined a lot of lives.

If NoLab had been acting like a proper government instead of cosying up to the city and allowing these scandalous malpractices to continue then we wouldn't have the situation which exists today.

What concerns me is that the people who have caused the problem are probably going to keep their money and sail into the sunset in their luxury yachts leaving the taxpayer to pick up the bill and their hard up staff to scramble for any remaining jobs.

Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling have blamed the global problems for their inability to run the economy but they must have seen this coming because the personal debt in this country had reached epidemic proportions. Youngsters leaving university had been encouraged, nay almost forced, into five figure debts long before they tried to get jobs. They were led to believe that all would be fine and that running up a debt was 'normal'.

Young couples were encouraged into huge debt in order to get onto the housing market but that too was sensible because property would always be a good investment. If you couldn't manage your debt there were companies who would repackage it, you had equity in your house and you could draw on your pension before you retired. Nothing was impossible so keep borrowing.

Now it is all coming home to roost. The people who set the rules are scarpering and the government is doing nothing to stop them. Well I am waiting for our deadly duo to draw up a new set of rules to govern the finance houses of this country. If they are using taxpayer's money to prop the banks up then it must be under a strict new set of regulations which should protect the taxpayer. Banks must be made to act in a responsible manner and at last we have got them on the run. The point is will we see it?

I am not holding my breath because so far they have spluttered and swallowed hard but nothing has been announced. It won't be long before the spivs and crooks will be back in charge again because our politicians are also spivs and crooks. We live in shocking times and we still have more time left if we ever get another election in this country. I strongly suspect that Gordon has plans to ban an election when the time comes of the grounds of National Security or some other pretext. He will never fight an election!

PS This will be my last post for a week as I am off to Spain to see friends. It will be interesting to see how the Spanish live under the European banner.