Thursday, Mar 12, 2009
Pot calls Kettle again
Guardian: Darling calls for tighter regulation of bank capital
Regulators should have the power to force banks to build up enough capital in the good times to withstand a downturn, British finance minister Alistair Darling said on Thursday. Perhaps the word 'bank' should be swapped to 'governement'.
Posted by enuii @ 09:51 PM (442 views) Add Comment
5 Comments
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1. quiet guy said...
This is totally ridiculous. You can't legislate against human nature ie. greed.
Brown talked about abolishing boom and bust but when the housing bubble started, Labour just couldn't bring themslves to stop it.
Anybody in banking who called for caution in the boom years was sidelined - Sir Goodwin didn't get his pension and bonuses for being cautious but for being greedy.
Does anybody seriously think some more rules will stop banks overextending themselves again?
The best hope I can see is to force banks to structure themselves in such a way that they can be allowed to fail - something like the Glass-Steagall Act. Above all else, let failed banks fail. That's the lesson of recent events for me.
2. crunchy said...
It's not the banks that need regulating, IT'S OUR BLOODY GOVERNMENT.
3. charlie brooker said...
@quiet guy
The whole point of legislation is to formalise the rules of society.
While most people who have a grasp of basic law won't break it, there are those that even with a clear understanding of it will. The criminal justice system exists to punish such people.
One reason greed has flourished so blatantly in the last decade is because the rules themselves were relaxed. Another is because of the failure to enforce what rules there still were.
Essentially, the governor handed the keys over to the inmates and the result is abject chaos with criminal gangs seizing one opportunity after another.
In part I blame The People for abrogating their civic duties, giving too much power to our so-called leaders. As the old adage says "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". Well, the people weren't vigilant and now the country is practically bankrupt.
I also blame the media. Far from alerting the public to the dangers, they instead mostly promoted them, pulling the wool over their eyes with mind-numbing distraction.
Most of all I blame the psychopaths who orchestrated the whole deception. They should hang.
The only defence against the further rape of our country is that the people themselves take responsibility for it.
The only people who come out of this with any credit (forgive the pun) are those like us at HPC who realised the awful truth and continued to shout the warnings irrespective of the vitriol aimed our way.
4. charlie brooker said...
@quiet guy
The whole point of legislation is to formalise the rules of society.
While most people who have a grasp of basic law won't break it, there are those that even with a clear understanding of it will. The criminal justice system exists to punish such people.
One reason greed has flourished so blatantly in the last decade is because the rules themselves were relaxed. Another is because of the failure to enforce what rules there still were.
Essentially, the governor handed the keys over to the inmates and the result is abject chaos with criminal gangs seizing one opportunity after another.
In part I blame The People for abrogating their civic duties, giving too much power to our so-called leaders. As the old adage says "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance". Well, the people weren't vigilant and now the country is practically bankrupt.
I also blame the media. Far from alerting the public to the dangers, they instead mostly promoted them, pulling the wool over their eyes with mind-numbing distraction.
Most of all I blame the psychopaths who orchestrated the whole deception. They should hang.
The only defence against the further rape of our country is that the people themselves take responsibility for it.
The only people who come out of this with any credit (forgive the pun) are those like us at HPC who realised the awful truth and continued to shout the warnings irrespective of the vitriol aimed our way.
5. Imminent_plunge said...
Not pot kettle black, more stable doors and bolted.