Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, has made some shocking statements recently. Talking about the culture of banking in the context of yet more fines imposed on banks because their staff were making huge amounts of money in very dubious circumstances, Carney said:
“The repeated nature of these fines demonstrates that financial penalties [on banks] alone are not sufficient to address the issues raised,” and,
“Fundamental change is needed to institutional culture, to compensation arrangements and to markets.” and,
the succession of scandals “mean it is simply untenable now to argue that the problem is one of a few bad apples. The issue is with the barrels in which they are stored.”
How long has this guy been in the job? How much is he paid to make these pronouncements? Any cab driver could have told him this.
Banking is a pretty peculiar business. When banks go belly-up, the tax-payer steps in and bales them out. At the same time, the people running the banks get huge bonuses to leave. Then a new bunch of bankers 'sort everything out', whereupon there are more scandals and the people running the banks are given huge bonuses. And at the same time, whilst all these bankers are making shed-loads of 'Wonga' out of schemes which in any other situation would be called a scam or criminality, the taxpayer has to endure the 'age of austerity' so that the banks can be given more money to build up their capital which has been reduced by the bankers and the fines.
Isn't there something wrong with this picture. How is it that Dave Cameron and George Osborne can tell everyone that things are getting better because they are making everything worse for the ordinary man woman and child, and everyone seems to believe them?
When are the lumpen masses going to wake up to the fact that the many are getting royally fucked by the few and, at the same time, the same many are expected to pay for the privilege.