politics

Let’s ban reckless politicians as well as reckless bankers

politics / By

Some years ago I was sitting in the accountancy module B212 ‘window dressing and off balance sheet techniques‘ during my Masters course when the lecturer at the time piped up that one of the biggest fears in was the fact that mortgages were lent long whilst money was saved or acquired from the market short. In principle short money can be called for very quickly whilst paying back a mortgage on demand is impossible. A interesting discussion took place as we considered the possibilities of savers suddenly loosing confidence and withdrawing funds to stuff under the mattress or inter-bank lending suddenly drying up. And the fact that as mortgagees we would be unable to pay our green loans on demand loans so all chaos could result. We also in passing have a quaint notion that the money in the bank is actually ours to call on on demand – look to how Cyprus handled their depositors!

Obviously I am drawn to this reminiscing from a course more than 20 years ago by the thought that we have actually looked into the abyss over the last few years in the banking crisis. If this loss of confidence had gone much further there is actually no way that any government could cover all of the required finance without long term fiscal consequences. When looking at any proposed bailout of 700billion in the US this was clear – the figures are simply too huge. So how did we get here when the risk was well known. We had all began to assume that the ongoing growth period from the mid nineties would go on forever – we believed for a short while the Brown and Bush nonsense that the boom and bust and the cyclic nature of economies was a thing of the past. Actually not many economists bought this line but there seemed to be over the last ten years a creeping complacency in the market and in the economy at large that growth would continue house prices would rise and all would continue as before. So we are just past the worst of it house prices are on the rise again and we are set for another round of wish and hope. I can’t wait for the first labour politician who tells us we can take the breaks of public spending.

One of the problems faced by HBOS for example was the breaking of the linkage between grannies saving, and loans being made to the newly forming families to buy their homes. Grannies tend to keep their money safe in a Bank for a rainy day – so save relatively long. More of the money that was being lent was being acquired on the wholesale market thus very short and when money becoming in short supply and loans were called in the whole circus came to an end. Coupled with this trend the window dressing of junk debt and reselling as triple A in other areas meant in some cases these inter-bank loans were unpinned by toxic and rubbish debt that could not in any case be collected. So a prediction of an accounting professor twenty years ago came all to true in a few turbulent weeks three years ago.

What is a little depressing about the saga  is they who carried out these feats of financial engineering received the plaudits of their peers only a short while before the drop. The CEO of HBOS for example was hailed as a ‘genius’ only a year before the end. To some extend it was rather pleasing to see another rueful former CEO contemplating the handover of his company in a garage sale to one of his former rivals. A 300 year old company was sunk in that case during his short three years at the helm – a nice achievement not unique unfortunately if you look across the water.

There is an old saying that goes ‘when the going gets tough the politicians run for cover’ and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic squarely place the blame on the city or processes such as short trading and not themselves. Not minded to the fact that their policies and management of the economic context and their abject complacency has led us to where we are now. In the UK eye watering public sector borrowing to finance the client state, virtually no monetary policy, the encouragement of a reckless financial environment the surreal belief that would go on forever and the belief in the infallibility of their stewardship and lack of responsibilities are where some the explanation lies.

We even have the left in the UK claiming the debt is being caused by the current government and it was the nasty banks that let the country down. Partially true, I knew quite a few of these rather intellectually limited but supremely arrogant idiots, but the almost criminal management of the economy by the Labour government and the financing of the client welfare state was at the heart of the problem in the UK.

If we are talking about banning reckless bankers how about reckless Politicians anyone?

REM

Labour Party to clone Tony Blair before next election to ensure New Labour for Generations to come

politics, Society / By

Labour Party to clone Tony Blair before next election to ensure New Labour for Generations to come

Having had a disastrous handover to comrade Brown – in fact those of us in the know when the question of whether Tony or Brown should head up the Labour Party and fight for a new labour government at that time knew Brown would probably never win the first labour election victory. His weaknesses at an early time being evident to all: member of the living dead, no charisma (not surprising as member of living dead), and an unfortunate speaking tic (where the jaw is dropped at the end of each sentence ) that drives one mad. No one doubted his intellect, at least compared with the rest of the Labour Muppets around at that time, but what he lacked was leadership – Brown for all his ability, is a manager, not a leader – no one will identify or aspire to be him or, will internalise his pronouncements and make them their own – In the end this will do for him even if he manages to divert attention from the mess he got us into after ten years in charge at No11 by convincing autocratic millionaire Arab kings to fund his public sector spending splurge. It must be said that we want to be led like sheep in this country, and that’s why Tony Blair was so successful – he talked a load of crap – but did this so well and effectively that we thought it was eminently sensible to follow him to the back of beyond – i.e. Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now we are faced with another year or two of Brother Brown burying this country in debt and then what may be an election defeat for him (even though the labour party has built up quite a client state over the last ten years) the labour party has cooked up a ruse whereby in the future we can ensure a constant supply of party leaders in the mould of good ol Tony. Now personally I find this the kind of hell my Sunday School teacher talked about (can you imagine Tony being on the Throne for ever its almost as bad as thinking of Madge or Charles on the Throne) but almost a logical extension with this blind following of ever more outrageous claims made by scientists in the area of cloning, ’embryo’ research and animal experimentation.

As a stake inoculation I might point out I have several postgraduate science degrees and so know the game quite well when it comes to getting funding for, or permission to experiment in, areas of dubious ethical and scientific value. There is an inevitable testing of the boundaries by scientists researching at the limits of relevancy into some aspects of human health. We have over the last few years seen a procession of eminent scientists telling us poor mortals that a new area of research must be allowed in order that some disease or other will be banished, couples helped to conceive, or needed in order for the brain drain of our top scientists to be prevented. Now the arguments or discursive practices being deployed is never ‘oh we need the Dosh to carry out some PhD research’ because we need the grant money, ‘its’ always posed as: needed to find a cure for genetic diseases, or childhood diseases (usually muscular dystrophy or cystic fibrosis), possibly cancer which is always good for a bob or two, or helping childless couples conceive.

What is disturbing is not obvious good intentions co-opted for political gain but the way this cock and bull nonsense is swallowed by politicians and how a bevy of worthies (my eminent scientists) are wheeled out of the closet to tell us we (Jo Public) should allow all this without any critical discussion. They offer vague platitudes and little critical justification other than implied self interest that we or close family will be helped by this further extension of the ability of science to play with life or to carry out revolting experiments on primates.

Elsewhere in one of the other Blogs on www.Bizface.co.uk the blogger talks about stewardship, doing something that does not have any implied gain but doing something that is right for rights sake. The extension of life for a few months, or the ability to allow someone to overcome biological constraints to conceive, is not enough justification for me to allow playing with the fabric of life. It is not the specific issue of allowing hybrid cells to be created in order to improve stem cell research, as in this case, but the systemic problem of constant leverage of ethical boundaries without informed consent and the labelling of those who raise a yellow card as latter day Luddites – or even labelling them as going beyond their brief and interfering in the secular political world. What’s at issue here is ‘issue selling’ to the public to permit an anything goes approach and we need to think more clearly about setting the bounds. An informed debate in the Commons needs to take place , not constrained by party loyalties to begin this process, as a start to an informed approach.

Some Quotes on this:

“The irony is that this secular utopianism is based on a belief in an unstoppable human ability to make a better world, while at the same time it believes that we have the right to kill unborn children and surplus old people, and to play games with the humanity of those in between.”

Anglican Bishop of Durham Rt Rev Tom Wright

“For people out there suffering from Parkinson’s disease and motor neuron disease, this is not a question of some issue about the procedure through the House of Commons. This is an issue about whether we can find the drugs that can cure their illnesses. So this is the heart of the matter.” Alan Johnson Minister of Health and Former Postman

“It is difficult to imagine a single piece of legislation which more comprehensively attacks the sanctity and dignity of human life than this particular bill.

CARDINAL Keith O’Brian

“This research has massive potential to provide treatments for serious debilitating disorders ranging from developmental abnormalities in young children, to stroke, cancer, HIV/Aids, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, as well as better and safer treatment for infertile couples.” Medical Research Council (this was a good quote as they managed to get in all the worthy causes in one piece)

City Spivs and Speculators get paid (off) for ‘risk’ taking

politics / By

City Spivs and Speculators get paid (off) for ‘risk’ taking

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Some years ago I was sitting in the accountancy module B212 ‘window dressing and off balance sheet techniques‘ during my Masters course when the lecturer at the time piped up that one of the biggest fears in finance was the fact that mortgages were lent long whilst money was saved or acquired from the market short. In principle short money can be called for very quickly whilst paying back a mortgage on demand is impossible. A interesting discussion took place as we considered the possibilities of savers suddenly loosing confidence and withdrawing funds to stuff under the mattress or inter-bank lending suddenly drying up and the fact that as mortgagees we would be unable to pay our loans on demand loans so all chaos could result.

Obviously I am drawn to this reminiscing from a course more than 20 years ago by this weeks events and the thought that we have actually looked into the abyss. If this loss of confidence had gone much further there is actually no way that any government could cover all of the required finance without long term fiscal consequences when looking at the proposed bailout of 700billion in the US this is clear – the figures are simply too huge – and there was (perhaps still is) a chance or a real depression. So how did we get here when the risk was well known. We have and governments are too blame here began to assume that the ongoing growth period from the mid nineties would go on forever – we believed for a short while the Brown and Bush nonsense that the boom and bust and the cyclic nature of economies was a thing of the past. Actually not many economists bought this line but there seemed to be over the last ten years a creeping complacency in the market and in the economy at large that growth would continue house prices would rise and all would continue as before – a complacency that ended a few short weeks ago.

One of the problems faced by HBOS for example was the breaking of the linkage between grannies saving, and loans being made to the newly forming families to buy their homes. Grannies tend to keep their money safe in a Bank for a rainy day – so save relatively long. More of the money that was being lent was being acquired on the wholesale market thus very short and when money becoming in short supply and loans were called in the whole circus came to an end. Coupled with this trend the window dressing of junk debt and reselling as triple A in other areas meant in some cases these inter-bank loans were unpinned by toxic and rubbish debt that could not in any case be collected. So a prediction of an accounting professor twenty years ago came all to true in a few turbulent weeks.

What is a little depressing about the saga of some of those who have fallen is they carried out these feats of financial engineering to the plaudits of their peers only a short while ago. The CEO of HBOS for example was hailed as a ‘genius’ only last year – to some extend it was rather pleasing to see a rueful former CEO contemplating the handover of his company in a garage sale to one of his former rivals. A 300 year old company sunk during his short three years at the helm – a nice achievement not unique unfortunately if you look across the water.

There is an old saying that goes ‘when the going gets tough the politicians run for cover’ and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic squarely place the blame on the city or processes such as short trading and not themselves. Not minded to the fact that their policies and management of the economic context and their abject complacency has led us to where we are now. In he UK eye watering public sector borrowing to finance the client state, virtually no monetary policy, the encouragement of a reckless financial environment the surreal belief that would go on forever and the belief in the infallibility of their stewardship and lack of responsibilities are where some the explanation lies. It was even more unedifying to see Brown and Captain Darling claiming credit for facilitating the solution to HBOS which they themselves had practically caused – now for more weeks of historical reconstruction.