Petition Government for a Public Enquiry on Banking.

[Jim Graham]

So we have another Levenson-style enquiry. It drags on for months. It costs millions. It makes lawyers (and the dozens of hangers-on seen in the background) rich. Those appearing lie through their teeth. They (the banks) get a slap on the wrist (a huge fine which they immediately pass on to their customers.) MPs drone on about 'lessons have been learned', 'time to draw a line in the sand', 'time to move on'. Labour spout about how they would have 'done things differently' (even though they're up to their eyes in it).

 

And they get away with it.

 

Again.

 

 

Couldn't have put it better.

 

The real problem is the lack of regulation. Individuals in banks can make massive amounts of money and the chances of getting caught doing anything illegal is zero and even if they are the punishment is non-existent.

 

Gordon Brown, advised by Ed Balls, created an anything goes climate in the city in return for big tax payments to fund his public sector spendaholism and vote buying. Regulators were broken up and emasculated and told to look the other way. Knighthoods were handed out to some of the biggest crooks even after they were found guilty of things like misselling. Politicians and bankers were consumed by greed and immorality.

 

With everything that had gone on over the last 5 years or so how many bankers have actually been convicted of any wrongdoing in this country? Very few if any at all. The reason is that under Labour everything they were doing was perfectly legal, and it still is. The American regulators have been a lot tougher and plenty have gone to jail over there. But, here the old boy network lets them carry on.

 

Cameron could make himself very very popular by bringing in tough new laws on banks. It could be as good a move for him as retaking the Falklands was for Maggie. Cameron could retake the banks for us. I am not holding my breath that he will.

[LeMaquis]

Gordon Brown, advised by Ed Balls, created an anything goes climate in the city......

 

City deregulation goes back to the Thatcher government's Big Bang in the mid-80s, as Nigel Lawson explains here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11797748.

[studentbob]

We the people have to decide who we want to run our economy. Is it elected representatives? Or is it the speculators in the money markets?

 

You can't have it both ways. If an individual wants to make money from money, whether that be in the form of private pensions, investment portfolios, or renting out a second home, then they must accept the evils that facilitate that.

 

That's not to say that ordinary people are to blame, most people do what they can just to get by. However, now we can see the bigger picture, and it's becoming clearer by the day it seems, is it not the time for a genuine alternative.

 

I e-mailed Ed M to ask if he would commit to a policy of dismantling the markets. The next day he gave a speech to the unions that was predictably sympathetic to left wingers but showed no concrete evidence of a desire to implement anything that would change the system.

 

I still have my membership card, but don't know for how much longer.

[green]

We the people have to decide who we want to run our economy. Is it elected representatives? Or is it the speculators in the money markets?

 

You can't have it both ways. If an individual wants to make money from money, whether that be in the form of private pensions, investment portfolios, or renting out a second home, then they must accept the evils that facilitate that.

 

That's not to say that ordinary people are to blame, most people do what they can just to get by. However, now we can see the bigger picture, and it's becoming clearer by the day it seems, is it not the time for a genuine alternative.

 

I e-mailed Ed M to ask if he would commit to a policy of dismantling the markets. The next day he gave a speech to the unions that was predictably sympathetic to left wingers but showed no concrete evidence of a desire to implement anything that would change the system.

 

I still have my membership card, but don't know for how much longer.

 

Nice to see you contributing again Bob. We will get our enquiry, there's over 8k people signed in 3 days now, it wont take long to hit the 100k for a Parliamentary debate. Then we will see which parties agree to this, and who hides behind the detail.

 

There is a Positive Money meeting this Thursday at Quaker House 7.15pm if your interested?

[Jim Graham]

City deregulation goes back to the Thatcher government's Big Bang in the mid-80s, as Nigel Lawson explains here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11797748.

 

It all worked OK until Brown got in. I think you have to look carefully at some of the things he did before blaming anyone else.

[green]

It all worked OK until Brown got in. I think you have to look carefully at some of the things he did before blaming anyone else.

 

Both parties were complicit in the Banking Industry lack of regulations.

 

A Public Enquiry will give us the people the chance to see the dirty laundry of this crisis in the open.

[I1L2T3]

Couldn't have put it better.

 

The real problem is the lack of regulation. Individuals in banks can make massive amounts of money and the chances of getting caught doing anything illegal is zero and even if they are the punishment is non-existent.

 

Gordon Brown, advised by Ed Balls, created an anything goes climate in the city in return for big tax payments to fund his public sector spendaholism and vote buying. Regulators were broken up and emasculated and told to look the other way. Knighthoods were handed out to some of the biggest crooks even after they were found guilty of things like misselling. Politicians and bankers were consumed by greed and immorality.

 

With everything that had gone on over the last 5 years or so how many bankers have actually been convicted of any wrongdoing in this country? Very few if any at all. The reason is that under Labour everything they were doing was perfectly legal, and it still is. The American regulators have been a lot tougher and plenty have gone to jail over there. But, here the old boy network lets them carry on.

 

Cameron could make himself very very popular by bringing in tough new laws on banks. It could be as good a move for him as retaking the Falklands was for Maggie. Cameron could retake the banks for us. I am not holding my breath that he will.

 

The argument that bankers only did what they did because they weren't regulated, and couldn't help themselves, is starting to get rather tired.

 

Of course they could help themselves. Of course they could have prevented all this wrongdoing. They would have had codes of practices, codes of ethics, everything expected of a modern corporation. They also had a history of being trusted institutions and trusted with our money. Some of them were hundreds of years old. Despit all this there was a loss of control, extreme corporate failure.

 

The regulation argument also ignores the rise of the shadow banking system which has continues to operate largely beyond the reach of regulators. The Tories have no plans to regulate it or bring it under control. Nothing. It's where a lot of their funding come from.

[Hots on]

Labour are playing games with this, they know many people perceive that the top bankers are a Tory class of people, and so having a protracted enquiry disecting the banking industry on BBC news 24 practically everyday will say to people everyday, bankers+Tories=skulldugery, so solution - vote Labour.

[Jim Graham]

The argument that bankers only did what they did because they weren't regulated, and couldn't help themselves, is starting to get rather tired.

 

It's only getting tired for those who don't want to hear it because it's a bit embarrassing. Did you not notice it is now Minibland who critices the banks on Labour's behalf because Balls is not credible having been part of the problem? There is far too much selective hearing and memory from the left on this issue.

 

You and I don't shoplift because we are likely to get caught and punished. The reward does not outweigh the risk. Bankers looted the country because it was not illegal and they were never going to get caught anyway. The rewards were massive and there was no risk. You and all the other moral high ground moralists would have done exactly the same given the chance.

[I1L2T3]

Labour are playing games with this, they know many people perceive that the top bankers are a Tory class of people, and so having a protracted enquiry disecting the banking industry on BBC news 24 practically everyday will say to people everyday, bankers+Tories=skulldugery, so solution - vote Labour.

 

Not really. Any enquiry would badly expose Labour as having got too close to the banks too.

 

Now we have established that the banking system is insolvent both financially and morally, is taking us further down the pan day by day, is badly corrupted, looks to have behaved with criminality and is not sorry for what has happened then it is time to break it up, clean it up and make it work for us.

 

The party that will win out is the one that shows it understands the mistakes of the past and want to do something about them and move on. The party that suffers will be the one that makes all the right noises and then refuses to do anything about the problems.

 

You worked out which one is which.