Politicians? How I laugh at them

With bankers around the world being generally in bad odour as they are, probably correctly, being held responsible for the economic and financial crisis, there has arisen a superb opportunity for politicians to score, as they see it anyway, a few points.

A perfect example is that dour, unimpressive failure, British Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown. Mr P.G. Wodehouse wrote that "It is never difficult to distinguish between a ray of sunshine and a Scotsman with a grievance."

It is never difficult to distinguish between a ray of sunshine and Mr James Gordon Brown MP.

Given the staggering losses amassed by the Royal Bank of Scotland over the past year, and its subsequent "bail-out" by the British Government (taxpayer) Mr Brown is very upset that the erstwhile chief executive of the bank, Sir Fred Goodwin, is receiving a very large pension. Mr Brown, typically playing to the gallery, feels that Sir Fred is not entitled to this pension and says that he is investigating legal remedies to "claw back" Sir Fred's pension. Mr Brown , according to this BBC article, said "The behaviour in the Royal Bank of Scotland, where very substantial additional pension awards were given, is something that makes me angry and will make the public of the country angry," (playing to the gallery of course).

Sir Fred Goodwin
Picture: The Sun

Could this be the very same Mr Gordon Brown, who as Chancellor of the Exchequer, sold off a substantial part of Britain's gold reserves resulting in staggering losses for the country (i.e. the taxpayer)? And was it not Mr Brown who arranged matters such that the bankers were able to proceed with the risky practices that now (not in 2007...) attract such opprobrium? And how was this stupendous demonstration of incompetence punished? Why, they made him Prime Minister! If he is not a hypocrite, Mr Brown will no doubt understand when I state that I consider it entirely unacceptable that failure should be rewarded in this way and that I call on him to resign without delay and of course, sans pension.

Mr Spike Milligan of Goons fame once said "People in glass houses should pull the blinds before removing their trousers." Step forward Mr Brown - or on second thoughts, perhaps not.

A final word concerning Sir Fred and the bankers. During his time as chief executive, Sir Fred built up RBS into the world's fifth-largest bank; the bank was very profitable for some years. Sir Fred also built up a very large pension fund for himself, the last contribution to which, he claims, was authorised by the government last year. The pension fund is therefore Sir Fred's money. He will have used the money to buy an annuity. By what perverted interpretation of justice the government proposes to expropriate him of his personal assets I cannot imagine, but I should watch your wallets if I were you. And it is worth remembering that if Sir Fred pays standard UK income tax, the exchequer will receive something like £250,000 annually, just from the pension income.

Compare Sir Fred's career with that of the disastrous Lord Simpson. Simpson took over from Lord Weinstock as chairman of one of Britain's beacon success stories: GEC. Within five years his brilliant plans had turned this success story into a bankrupt ruin. No doubt he enjoys a fine pension still... (I am guessing but I'll bet I am correct!)

I hold no particular brief for bankers: whilst I accept that banks are necessary I consider them largely as robbers. Nevertheless, better ten Goodwins than one Brown (or Simpson!).

Until the next time

And Still More on Free Speech

Following my recent posts about Belgian Defence Minister Pieter de Crem and the New York Barmaid, Nathalie, who was allegedly sacked as a result of her blogging about his presence in her bar, we have a new free speech problem.

This time it concerns Baltic State, Latvia.  Until recently, Latvia was a shining star of economic growth in the Baltic region.  Sadly she has been hit hard by the international economic crisis.

A university professor, a Mr Smirnov was "unwise enough" to offer his views to a newspaper as the BBC reports:

University lecturer Dmitrijs Smirnov told a newspaper the nation's currency, the lat, was heading for devaluation.

Mr Smirnov. Picture source, BBC

The result of this was that Mr Smirnov was seized by Latvia's security police - the Latvian equivalent I suppose of those who unconstitutionally raided Mr Damian Green's office at Westminster the other day - and locked up for two days.  "Charges" (for what exactly?) are still pending!

This is the moment for what the Americans call a "reality check."

Latvia is ostensibly a Western European state, espousing all those wonderful, liberal "democratic" values so prized by the windbags who occupy the European Parliament.  It is this state that has imprisoned an academic for expressing an opinion in a newspaper.

IS ANYONE AWAKE?

At this rate one might as well be living in China, Russia or even Mugabe's bordel of country.

Historians have claimed for years that the West is in terminal decline.  I had imagined that this observation might have been proven correct by the activities of the beards and towels brigade (in the service of Allah of course) but I am beginning to wonder if the decline is now coming from within.

Until the next time.

"Realeconomik"

Yes, that's right: policies that address the real world!

Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA is renowned as a resort, and well known for its gambling facilities as well as other entertainments, sports etc.  The city was, I imagine, proud to have introduced a total smoking ban in its casinos just seven months ago.

As is the case elsewhere in the world, banning smoking meant effectively banning customers too. For the city, the current economic crisis has proved to have been a bit of a wake-up call and the City Council has relaxed the ban to the extent of permitting the casinos to install "ventilated smoking lounges away from the tables" according to this article in the Daily Telegraph.

To an inveterate smoker such as myself, I think a "ventilated smoking lounge" is a long way from my idea of say, a proper poker game!

Until the next time

"Newspeak" in Russia Today

As time and life go by, my respect for George Orwell increases.

His wonderful concept of "Newspeak" that he introduced in "1984" is alive and well in Russia in 2008.

In Putin's Russia, bad news is evidently not acceptable according to the Daily Telegraph which reported on a survey of public attitudes to the Russian economy yesterday:

 "And sure enough, at a time when their country is locked in its worst financial crisis in a decade, they [The Russian people] are more optimistic about the economy than they have ever been. According to opinion polls, 57 per cent reckon it is flourishing, up from 53 per cent in July.

The survey's findings are a triumph for the state, proving that the Kremlin has not lost its touch when it comes to manipulating fact. Obeying orders from the top, Russian television has banned the use of words such as "crisis", "decline" and "devaluation. "

Soon no doubt, official policy will be that belief in fairies is mandatory!

One could I suppose,  characterise recent Russian history in Orwellian terms: 

From Animal Farm to 1984 in twenty years!

Until the next time

The Curse of Gnome

The title refers to an occasional feature in the excellent satirical magazine Private Eye in which subsequent events have demonstrated that the Eye's forecasts/prognoses/analyses have proved to be correct.

The cartoon below appeared in the Eye in January this year...

Until the next time

Financial Chaos Part II

Image source: here

As you will all know by now, the announcement that the United States Government is prepared to commit the staggering sum of $700,000,000,000 to buy so-called toxic debt, prompted on Friday last, a surge in stock values around the world.

As is often the case with parties, the passing of the weekend has brought a hangover ,and stocks have fallen again, with the leading indices all down by around 2%. And as might be expected, oil is up by over 8% and gold now stands at $904 - $35 up.

It seems to me that having had the weekend to think about things, investors are perhaps wondering what will be the consequences of the staggering "investment" proposed by the United States Federal reserve Bank in the form of one Hank Paulson; will the cure be worse than the disease perhaps?

Well, one observer, Mike Swanson thinks that the proposed programme will be fatal for the dollar, suggesting instead that the example of Franklin Delano Roosevelt be followed:

A banking crisis happened in the beginning of the Great Depression, but Franklin Roosevelt and the government did nothing like what is being proposed today. They did not bail out the banks. What Roosevelt did was declare a banking holiday. He shut the banks down. for about a week Then he had officials go into all of the banks and look at their financials to determine which banks were truly bankrupt, which were fine, and which could be saved with a little bit of money. When the bank holiday ended the banks that were bankrupt did not open back up and the ones that were fine did.

Confidence was restored, because depositors now knew if their bank was fine or not - and it didn't require putting the financial future of the entire country at risk to do this. It cost hardly a dime. Yes some people lost money. A lot of banks went under, but the dollar didn't go to zero and future generations weren't saddled with debts. The credit freeze ended in a week.

Mr Swanson's article makes interesting reading and I commend it to you.

Until the next time

Financial Chaos

It has been said that amongst the many types of "rocket scientist" employed, at least until very recently by the banks, were chaos mathematicians. It has also been said that a bank manager is one who will lend you an umbrella when the sun is shining.

Well, I might add, so it has come to pass. There are now politicians (all of whom of course are not responsible) who are saying things such as "These 'rocket scientists' came up with products and procedures that few can understand." As far as it goes I am sure that this is true.

Were it not for the fact of the misery and suffering that these financial crises cause, I would be cheering to the rafters at the discomfiture of the banks - all greedy bastards every one of them. I am not in the slightest a "man of the left" but just because this is the case, it does not mean that I think that there should be a financial environment in which the occupants can operate in a moral vacuum and without a scintilla of responsibility. Moral bankruptcy in fact.

My own bank is said to be the largest retail bank in France. I read recently that its profits had declined by 94% over the past year. It seems that I am personally expected to make good this decline in profitability judging by the charges it has exacted from me for an overdraft that at its largest was less than €500. These charges would make Shylock blush. Bastards - voleurs.

How I wish they could all go to the wall - but sadly it cannot be allowed to happen, which effectively means that national governments have retroactively to sanction the banks' greed and irresponsibility.

As a man who is not of the left, I loathe Government interference; how sad that it is necessary because of the culture of greed in the banking and financial services sectors! And sadder still that the taxpayer, already bled white by these parasites has to foot the bill - again.

As you know I often quote from the International Herald Tribune, an associate title of the New York Times/Boston Globe group. The IHT has produced an interesting piece suggesting that President Bush must share the blame for the current crisis. The NYT (and therefore the IHT) tends to a slightly Democratic view, but this piece is actually fairly balanced; recommended.

Until the next time (probably from a cardboard box)