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Yesterday morning on the Today programme a financial expert was being grilled on the implications of JP Morgan's takeover of crippled investment bankers Bear Stearns.
The expert was, he said, "anxious and frightened". But what was strangest was that he - like every other breadhead I've heard expatiating in the past few weeks - seemed to feel that it was central government's sacred duty to bale the bankers out.
We've seen it with Northern Rock here and now we're seeing it with Bear Stearns in the States: the JP Morgan deal has been underwritten by the Fed, which is also mobilising a claque of central banks to push billions into the speedily atrophying global credit market. The expert moaned that "people seem to feel that the banks are a moneymaking machine". Doh! That's exactly what they are: we deposit our money, and they mechanically write paper loans for a great deal more.
But not content with their machines, financial engineers have been devising ever-more-complex ways to customise them, hence the sub-prime fiasco. Where now is the hidden hand of the unfettered market? Oh, no - it's down to the taxpayers and the bank depositors to help out the fat cats who for the past decade have been making themselves sick on their creamy bunce.
It's not just the City that has only itself to blame - the Government has gambled on an upswing without end as well. The great New Labour "miracle" of sustained investment in public services while taxes were held - relatively - low is now going to be exposed for the smoke and mirrors it always was, sustained by offbalancesheet items such PFIs and PPPs and a mounting budget deficit.
And then there's us, the consumers: we've gorged ourselves on cheap credit, while also borrowing on the mounting equity of our homes. It's been a decade of treats for us too, with never a thought for the long term.
I'm not some Cassandra who gets his kicks out of having told you so, but over the past few years I've harped on a good deal about these looming problems. I wouldn't have minded the City's orgy of prosperity quite so much if its good fortune really had "trickled down" to the less well-off, but the truth is that London is a more materially divided city than ever after a decade of unregulated greed.
In the bad old days it was trade unionists who were damned for their inflationary pay rises, but in recent times we've had to contend with bankers who don't think even the sky is the limit when it comes to their bonuses. In the run-up to this downturn, the courtiers of the super-rich were still bleating on about how London couldn't afford to scare off the non-doms, for fear the whole emerald City would be bust into shards.
Their wealth may not have trickled down to the still littler people, but one thing's for sure: when they're down and out they'll still be expecting our money to rain down on them.
Reader views (2)
Before anyone votes to approve this bailout, you should listen to this easy to understand radio program that explains exactly how we got here. PLEASE give it a listen. The Global Pool of Money explains it much better than anyone. It shows we should Never BAIL THESE GUYS OUT.
- Sheller, USA, 02/10/2008 03:11
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I could not agree more. Americans have gotten into the bad habit of using their homes as piggy banks to tap for purchasing any toy or doll to play with. People need to recognize that home real estate is not an investment or a savings account, but a place to live for which you pay a fee (a mortgage). Banks like Bear Stearns and the greed they embody need to be subjected to the free market and not rescued by the Feds or central governments. Everyone will be hurt if they aren't rescued? We already are: investments down 10%, food prices up 5%, transportation up 10% (though I recognize that we Americans pay a falsely low price for petrol). Lower home prices may be a good thing in the long run, allowing more people to tap into less credit at lower rates and to purchase responsibly, while turning their focus to real savings and the miracle of compounding.
- William Penn, East Lansing, MI, USA, 02/10/2008 02:11
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