Banking Shocks

The discussion below was moved from a thread about street scams:

Clive Carter 4 hours ago

BANKS are absolutely essential to our economy and to our entire way of life.

Some got a glimpse of what would have happened had the government not stepped in to bail them out: in October 2008, we stood within 24 hours of a total freeze of the banking system.

That would have meant all plastic cards would have been worth the value of the plastic alone. Cheque books would be worth the value of the paper pages. Bank accounts would have been completely inaccessible. All bank branches and cashpoints would be shut. We would have been left only with the cash in our wallets and possibly in safes. It is and was too horrendous to think about and the price of avoiding this is that our collective futures are now mortgaged for many years.

We need banks. But is is equally clear that we need banks that are regulated under a quite different regime to the slack laissez faire regime that has existed in the Anglo-Saxon world.

The exception has been banks of Australia and New Zealand whose banks are now rated amongst the safest in the world (see slots 11 to 18 in attached file – survey of Feb-09). It is not because they are big. Even less is it because they are less greedy. It's because they're supervised properly by Regulators. (mainland Europes banks also faired better than those of the UK & US).

The next big shock to finance capitalism looks like being fall-out from Dubai and its extravagant real-estate boom, if that place goes bust.


Reply by StephenBln 3 hours ago

Yes, it's the US -UK axis that's doing badly.. as well as those countries pegged to the US Dollar, like Dubai, Saudi etc., mostly because of the deregulation set up by Reagan-Thatcher and continued by the Blair-Brown government .. The so-called Anglo-Saxon way of doing things financially is broke..

Those countries pegged to the Euro are not doing so badly ..like Denmark (ERMII) whereas Iceland (part of Denmark but not pegged) did badly.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro#Currencies_pegged_to_the_euro

I heard the new leader of UKIP wittering on on the today programme today about the EU's desired regulation of British Banks .. What irritated me about the interview was that the BBC allowed him to get over the three headlines he wanted.. Out of the EU, Immigration, German control of the currency .. Although the Germans really don't control it - even though the European central Bank is in Frankfurt/Main.. I really despair for the country if UKIP ever gets it's hands on the levers of power.

PS: The new ex (CON) now (UKIP) leader.

Listen to Pearson sneak in Immigration and Germany into the conversation and the Interviewer let him get away with it.. the wretched person. The BNP with a posh voice..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8383000/8383974.stm

Alec-Douglas lives again.. jolly hocky sticks ..we want orfff out of Europe