Most bankers are crooks

[spooky3]

Yes you have a point. But people have to live somewhere.

 

It's a long time since I had any dealings with a bank manager and still thought they were nice wise old men who knew what they were doing, gave you good sound advice and wouldn't give out money recklessly. (In my day you had to go down on bended knee to borrow money from a bank.) In other words I would have trusted them to do the right thing, and if they said I could have the money they must think I can afford it. (Naive and immature perhaps but weren't we all at one time, especially when you're young and desparate.)

 

It's only since this crisis hit that I realised how behind the times I was. Even the whole idea of banks actively selling 'products' was new to me. (I'm old...)Bank people should now come with a statuatory health warning stamped on their heads. 'We do not give advice in the best interests of our clients, but in the interests of our own commision.'

 

On that programme you were watching last night, Bush made a speech about reforming the banks so that people on lower incomes could get the types of mortgages the richer got, so that they could have equality, he got a standing ovation, the people lapped it up... It was only after the crash that people complained and said why did you do it! But who really did it?

[Anna B]

But so are we!

 

Shakespeare even wrote about it in Merchant of Venice! But it goes back to way before that...

 

 

Those that call for removing the banking system don't realise that we'd need them again in two minutes.

 

There are people complaining about what the banks did, but no one complained at the time, well, because the banks were doing what the people wanted, lending money, and now that there not, they still complain.

Bonuses are extravagant, but their making the money to pay them out, go figure...

 

Oh yes they did. The internet was awash with the scandal years before it hit but they were accused of being 'conspiracy theorists.' If they had been listened to this situation would never have arrisen. Same in the higher echelons of banking. Regulators were sacked for pointing out the inevitability of a crash and spoiling the party, as were other employees.

 

Make no mistake, they knew this crash was going to happen and made millions out of that knowledge.

As for ordinary people, those that realised what was happening didn't borrow, but are still caught up in the aftermath, and could still lose everything along with everyone else.

 

Of course we need banks. But honest ones.

[Anna B]

I'm not sure what that means. There are plenty of places to live without needing to take on excessive debt just because you are offered it.

 

Plenty of places to live?

 

We have a housing crisis. And rents are soaring. It is as expensive to rent as to buy in many cases.

 

The banks funding of excessive house prices created a bubble that has put most houses (to rent and to buy) out of reach.

[spooky3]

... they were accused of being 'conspiracy theorists.'

...

 

I remember!

 

Before any of my theories I didn't get a few jobs because of my frank appraisal of the situation. Everyone just thought they could build build build all day long...

 

 

 

My favourite conspiracy theory was that it's just a cover up to pay for 10 years of war.

[spooky3]

Plenty of places to live?

 

We have a housing crisis. And rents are soaring. It is as expensive to rent as to buy in many cases.

 

The banks funding of excessive house prices created a bubble that has put most houses (to rent and to buy) out of reach.

 

I seem to hear this every decade...

 

 

In this country we want to make lot's of money on the properties we buy and sell, everyone's at it...

[Glennis]

The people outside the cathedral are making no difference what so ever to anything positive in relation to your concerns. Nothing is changing by them being there.

 

This is true, but all over the world the issue is being highlighted and discussed.

 

The trouble with protesting 'in the streets' is that your are virtually admitting just how powerless you are in the face of corporate big business, the multinationals and the banks - even governments can only stand up so much to these basically psychopathic immoral people.

[Tony]

Plenty of places to live?

 

We have a housing crisis. And rents are soaring. It is as expensive to rent as to buy in many cases.

 

The banks funding of excessive house prices created a bubble that has put most houses (to rent and to buy) out of reach.

 

Perhaps you can repost that with a timeline of the events that you describe?

[spooky3]

This is true, but all over the world the issue is being highlighted and discussed.

 

The trouble with protesting 'in the streets' is that your are virtually admitting just how powerless you are in the face of corporate big business, the multinationals and the banks - even governments can only stand up so much to these basically psychopathic immoral people.

 

I wonder about what better things these protesters could be doing, say volunteering in debt crisis centres, help the aged, libraries, or even starting a business and employing people.

 

More regulation for the bankers to wriggle out of won't change much of the power base, only by someone else providing a morally better service will it be better.

[mossdog]

Plenty of places to live?

 

We have a housing crisis. And rents are soaring. It is as expensive to rent as to buy in many cases.

 

The banks funding of excessive house prices created a bubble that has put most houses (to rent and to buy) out of reach.

What do you think of the reported one million homes stood empty,largely the fault of certain councils prepared to flatten lots of houses with potential to build new,just because they could get their hands on money that seemed to grow on trees...............and now they have found out it doesn't?

[I1L2T3]

No, I'm suggesting that the amount it lent wasn't the reason for it's failure, it was the nature of the way it financed it's lending.

You have to read what's been written, not just make something up!

 

The amount it lent was the cause of the failure. The way it financed its lending was reckless in

the extreme and like you say the failure to renew maturing borrowing that was the immediate issue. However you are totally ignoring the scale (and nature) of the refinancing they needed to achieve. The amount of money they needed could not be borrowed. Nor could it be borrowed to refinance the NR sub-prime loan books in an illiquid finance market reeling from the onset of the US sub-prime crisis.

 

Sure you can state what caused NR to run out of liquidity. But you can't ignore the reasons why it happened.