Boards
A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute
Some comments I particulary agree with in regard to the banking situation (ie Hornby begging bowl in hand)
In the lower orders, where the majority of the population work, this would be viewed as gross negligence and incompetence. Remedied in the first instance by issuing each member of the Board and senior management with a 'Personal Improvement Plan' by the HR drones, and ultimately dismissed (without bumper payoffs) if they failed to get their act together. One might also suggests that there should be some significant deductions from wages to recompense the company for its losses caused by their wilful negligence.
Oh yes, I forgot, the 'rules' only apply to the hard working and underpaid workers. Bonuses all round and do pass the claret dear boy.
The whole Banking System is rotten to the core.
When has any other business been able to create money out of thin air ??
It is operated in such a way that they have to create personal debt to create new money
and then, when it goes pear shaped come "cap in hand" for more money.
This whole rubbish about lubricating business is total rubbish.
The Banks created the Credit boom, buy any conceivable method possible ...
But there is no foundations and no substance to their "paper wealth" ...
It might be tough for a while, but it would actually be better to let the banks go bankrupt ....
Then bring out legislation to bring it under a VERY TIGHT CONTROL ....
When the "sold the gold" and destroyed the gold standard it was a licence to print money ....
The Federal Reserve is NOT a department of the US governement, it is a private bank that has been screwing the American people for decades ....
And has effectively controlled world finance for over a century to no ones benefit but their own ....
It's time to stop this garbage and let the banks suffer, jus like every one else who the banks have screwed ...
The financial system has become a tapeworm in the gut of the world economy. Time it was given a strong dose of a strong currency.
We are now coming out of the fog. the punter is, at last,realising what a bunch of incompetant, untrustworthy con-men the bankers'are.
But when, oh when, will the establishnent collectively stop giving them immunity from the law.
For how long must we endure the corrupt behavior of bankers and their lawyers. Does anyone have any idea how many 'rigged' trials they have set up in oreder to rob their unfortunate clients ? Think on. They have in their pockets the entire legal system, the politicians, the police and worse, allof the regulatory bodies supposedly put into place to protect our interesets.
It's a joke isn't it ?
HBOS is the latest in the queue for new money, asking investors to stump up £4bn to help it cope with "a more challenging environment ahead". Yes, this is the very same HBOS that only last summer increased its dividend to shareholders, boasting of its "strong capital generation capacity". Whoops!
As it was - and no doubt will be again, because the industry is blighted by boardroom amnesia - these executives were able to enjoy a gigantic one-way bet. When, instead of boring old banking, they had a wild day at the races and won, it was huge bonuses all round. On the other hand, if their gambles failed, not to worry, seven-figure salaries remained intact and, in extremis, there was always the safety net of jackpot pay-offs for destroying value.
An unattractive combination of irresponsible lending and naked greed has landed our banks in a bad place. They are squealing for more money. They want help from the Government, special funding from the Bank of England and extra cash from their shareholders. If Oxfam turned up with a box of coins for the needy, few would be surprised if they dipped into that, too.
(1) Bankers are hugely over-rewarded for 'success', which, more often than not, is not of their doing but the simple result of favourable market conditions. Even s**t floats higher when the tide is rising.
(2) Bankers are not punished for their failure. The bill is taken up by shareholders and taxpayers.
(3) Any idiot can do a banker's job. You only need simple arithmetic: addition, subtraction, division, multiplication. To actually understand the instruments you are dealing with, a modicum of more sophisticated understanding is required (differential calculus, basic understanding of stochastic processes). But, as we have seen, the understanding of most bankers is limited to basic arithmetic.
Many bankers do work longish hours, I agree. But the pressure is trivial. And, the rewards are asymmetric and huge. And, people work long hours in many professions.
There are lots of egotistic, assertive hot-shots around, whose attitude is amplified by the cushion from reality that their insulated working environment provides. But this, and the long working hours, should not be confused with pressure. It is just egotistic, under-socialised working culture that inevitably emerges when young, self-important 'hot shots' are put into a bottle. The real pressure is generated by the fear that someone bricks their posturing and reveals that the emperor has no clothes.
Most other businesses, finding themselves in financial difficulties, would have to sell off some of the assets they have purchased, to try to survive. They wouldn't be able to rely on government i.e. taxpayers money, to bail them out.....why can banks?
Lord Stevenson has described Andy Hornby as 'a hell of a tough guy'. You'd need to be when you'd lost three thousand million pounds of others people's money and still have the face to think you are in the right job.