Tuesday, Jan 27, 2009
Or: Cameron alludes to looking to see if any criminal laws were broken
Telegraph.co.uk: David Cameron calls for criminal actions against bankers
David Cameron last night expressed disbelief that financial watchdogs were not pursuing criminal investigations against banks and bankers who have caused the financial crisis. - I can't help but agree. Arguably bankers cost the world millions of souls in WWII. The ramifications are of a humanitarian scale.
Prison is quite comfortable for white-collar criminals these days, and I'm sure its a bearably transient experience when you know you've got your millions waiting. Better to fine them all they have and future earnings and leave them to carry on in a 2 bed semi with a Tesco trolley in the front garden.
Posted by lukeskywalker @ 11:48 AM (619 views) Add Comment
8 Comments
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1. mountain goat said...
This cartoon posted earlier by Paul says it all
2. letthemfall said...
Good to see someone in Parliament call for the culpable to be pursued, though one has to ask whether the Conservatives would do so were they in power.
3. bidin'matime said...
Back in June 06 I posted a comment that included:-
"The problem is that, most people are children at heart and believe that the banks wouldn’t let them borrow the money if it ‘wasn’t okay to do so’."
The banks abused this child-like tendency and they know it. No doubt they would argue that they only lend to adults, who should know better, but then where does the line lie between honest business and the confidence trickster? Somewhere in the modern bank manager's office, I would suggest.
4. plato said...
Just had a chat with a retired postman (has an in-law with shares in RBS----Ouch!!!) and he said the same as Cameron........Must be getting serious!
5. Crunchy said...
Never trust in anyone wearing a suit, over that of someone in motorbike leathers.
Estate agents, Shoplifters and Conmen, rely on this delusion. That goes for posh accents too.
It is the confidence tricksters job to exploit these misconceptions. The true masters come across like Royalty.
6. bellwether said...
Bidin @3 a very good point about people assuming it would be ok to borrow lots of money
7. Whathpc said...
Duty of care / Companies Law requirements of directors etc etc -- there are means to take these to court. Also, re: commercial property -- the "veil of incorporation" needs to be lifted, to show that these were (especially in the case of residential properties) nothing more than a means to speculate / place a one-way bet.
8. growler said...
I think the cartoon is spot on. The banks know that if you flash the cash and tell people it's all no problem, they'll talk themselves into it. After all, banks are professional and provide a service. Or so it should be. Instead, they've been allowed to relax laws and have fought each other for every customer without even bothering to check if it's in the customers or in their own interests. "Their own interests" means this years round of bonuses, so noone is going to ask too much if the charts all point up up and away.
Stupidity is what it is, but surrounded by so called professionals telling you to buy, buy, buy - it is easy to see why the masses have been seduced.
Losers are the borrowers let down by negligence, followed by all of us as we are bailing out the a lack of transparency. Culpable are the banks themselves, and the Government for letting it happen. The enchanting Mr Blair has bewildered everyone around him into the great excess.
Worse still is that our legal system allows lenders to sue the unwitting borrower for every penny caused by the lenders own irrationality. This needs changing as much as the negligence needs punishing.