It seems that there are laws but, according to the Chancellor, nobody actually enforced them
At least that was the gist of what he seemed to be saying on Radio Four this morning ~ when Numpty let him get a word in that is.
Anywhoo ~ the deed is done HBOS and Lloyds TSB are a couple ~ jobs will be shed, "savings " will be made through economies of scale and someone, somewhere will make a shed load of cash.
And that brings us to the big question ~ just who is driving this? All the major banks around the world are in turmoil, stock market figures in every country are up and down like a whore's drawers, Governments throughout both the Western world and the Far East are at a loss and are threatening yet more legislation, pensions are going down the pan and the jobless totals will rise universally. When we had the Tory ERM debacle George Soros made money, lots of money and he wasn't alone but I believe him when he says he didn't cause the problem, he just saw it coming and took advantage of it. So who is doing the manipulation behind the scenes? It is not in the Governments' interests as this will finish many of them off. The banks certainly don't want it to happen and the average man in the street couldn't make it happen if he tried. OK mortgages were given to people who should perhaps not have had them but they didn't all default at once. House prices were too high, artificially so perhaps in some cases, but whilst there is a lack of housing then prices are bound to go up. None of this explains why this has happened now. Who pulled the plug is what I want to know. Who stands to make most out of this and how did they manage to engineer a world wide collapse of the financial system? Is it perhaps a new and sophisticated Islamist ploy? They certainly have plenty of money but somehow I don't think it would be in their interests. Oil prices are dropping like a stone (but not on the petrol forecourts) and food prices, as bumper harvests throughout most of the world will ensure, will drop next year too.
OR is it that it really is simply a lemming like desire to "even things out" on the part of humankind that comes round every twenty to thirty years.
One thing I do know is that my house is still worth three times what I paid for it, my works
pittance pension will not decrease and I am actually no worse off than I was this time last year. I am glad I have no savings, stocks, shares or any major commitments so I'm afraid I am saying "I'm all right Jack" and waiting to see just who has profited from it all.
