More stories from the culture wars raging against society....

There are 2 big problems with banks.

1 The people at the top who should be accountable are not jailed for the crimes.

2 The fines the banks are given for crimes are miniscule by comparison to the money they made from the crimes.

How to fix the banks.
1 Bosses you are going to jail.
2 Bank you made 10 Billion dollars profit from this illegal activity so the fine will be the 10 Billion PLUS another few Billion dollars.

Watch how quickly they obey the rules.

Everywhere one looks is a financial system rotten to the core? And invariably headed by "financial experts" whose expertise, I believe, seems directed a personal fortunes, with no visible effort or endeavour involved?

Thus the stock market went from a relatively simple financial entity that allowed risk taking capitalists to spread both risk and reward as long term shared dividend streams!

To one based on unadulterated unmitigated predatory practice? Where things like short selling, computer generated, millions of, in the blink of an eye, buy and sell arrangements (money changers in the temple) can be carried out in just days, and massively manipulating the market as that occurs.

Into that mix is inherently dishonest hidden commissions, insurance fraud/ponzi schemes and derivatives, created by the diabolically demented, merely masquerading as clever young things.

With something in the order of 64 trillion dollars worth created as quasi private quantitive easing/money plucked from thin air? And largely still out there? To the eternal detriment of ordinary mum and dad investors.

A Bank manager friend, now deceased, advised me that just prior to the 87 crash, his head office allegedly instructed him to loan out 42 times more than he had in deposits or covering assets!? And contributed to his ensuing mental breakdown/early retirement?

Because every western style economy rests exclusively on just two support pillars energy and capital!

We need to go back to the future and reassemble public sector banking, if only to return control of capital creation to the rightful owners!

Then follow that absolute economic imperative, with reasserted control of our energy provision! And just by embracing the inevitable future and the roll out of publically funded energy provision?

Moreover the private enterprise model can be retained in the best of both worlds by ensuring it is managed/rolled out as cooperative enterprise, i.e., like credit unions/shareholding employee owned co-ops etc/etc.

We just couldn't be worse off or worse served! But go from here to a far far better place, where our better angels reestablish control of our common destiny!
Alan B.

It's not Just Barclays, Lehman Brothers etc giving capitalism a bad name, but capitalism itself? Capitalism is inherently risky. You throw the dice and then take your chances.

Risk is inherent and meant to moderate and or weigh risky behavior! That was before ponzi schemes etc, which arguably describes most insurance models and derivatives, which in essence are insurances of insurances of insurances.

And created as alleged products! By folk able to use nonexistent/plucked from thin air money/private sector quantitive easing, that lessens the value of real money in the real economy, or the product of real blood sweat and tears real effort, enterprise and endeavour!

Thus we have various middlemen profit takers, who do nothing for that profit other than shuffle paper?

Or "free" services that charge hidden commissions that may well impact on the charges you pay for the life of the service, and might even claim your entire premium for the first year of a contract? Meaning "free service" commissions which you effectively pay!

The latest being unhidden mortgage insurance charged against home buying borrowers, to insure the, have your cake and eat it to, bankers against normal, market based risk!

Even as the money risked is not theirs but ours?

Money for nothing schemes and pecuniary predation needs to be removed, given it effectively, in very real terms, doubles the cost of living or just doing normal transactional business?

We just don't need finance brokers, mortgage brokers, water broking barons, able to charge others for what falls from the sky!

With carbon broking waiting in the wings to pick up a cool 140 billion plus PA, when carbon emission trading goes global? The reason some folk want it and are committed to its endless production/coal fired power?

We wouldn't by any stretch of an overwrought imagination hand Count Dracula the keys to the blood bank? But seem to have few if any qualms handing the responsibility for our economic well being to a former merchant banker, or a coal devotee? TBC.
Alan B.

That's why we need to return to the future with the creation of people's bank and allow encourage/preference cooperative capitalism!

Co-ops encourages share owning, non union, employee based ownership and allows our money to circulate time and again inside our economy where it works exclusively for us.

Outlawing middlemen from every part of a truly streamlined cooperative capitalism economy, will effectively halve the cost of living/doing business!

And ought to allow a bill of irrevocable rights to become law? These rights would include a citizen's initiated referendum; and through it enable us to finally rationalize and downsize the government sector, to effectively remove fee charging/profit demanding nonessential duplicating middlemen/bureaucratic empires!

With money currently passing through their fee charging hands going directly to the services they currently control/manage, reducing the funding required by as much as 30%, which then can be redirected at real unmet need!?

Regional autonomy and expanded councils will allow more real coal face funding, with the same basket of money?

The 70 plus annual billions we'd liberate just by removing a non essential, middle tier of government, would serve this nation far better than, the lascivious libertine luxury of keeping this, corrupt or crisis riddled, kindergarten for keystone cop politicians!

With instead, the creation of income earning, nation building infrastructure, i.e, fibre to the kerb NBN or a Continent encircling rapid rail system or an inland canal that forever changes an arid wilderness into our most productive agriculture!? The list is long and word limits short!

Lastly, we need to get serious about our energy policies, which will see we the people decide our best options, rather than, imperative driven idealogues or risk adverse, debt laden, tax avoiding, asset stripping, price gouging, profit repatriating, foreign speculators/extreme, greed is good, "capitalists"!?
Alan B.