Banks say sorry...

So Sir Fred and Co. have apologised for their part in the financial crash... but we're still waiting for an apology from the politicians (*cough* Gordon *cough*), the Bank of England and the FSA for utterly failing to do anything about a situation they - by the own admission - saw coming.

The banks are an easy target, but since you're all so keen on blethering on about the moral high ground, how about you admit your own culpability while you're at it?

Independent has some independent thinking...

Two very good articles on the Indy website today - one pointing out the spinelessness of politicians in their response to 'pakigate', the other a witty submission to the credit crisis and delusion of Flash Gordon's economic policy. Worth a read.

Socialism. It's insidious.

Actually, insidious implies that we can't see it coming. In a time of economic crisis, Gordon Brown seems to have reverted to type and instead of doing what is best in the long run by accepting a short-term pain, he refuses to do anything that might lose him votes.

Instead, he announces a savings account scheme that will be funded out of the taxpayer's purse, and that he will underwrite mortgages up to £400k for up to two years. Now correct me if my economic head is not screwed on correctly, but far from fixing the problem, that is going to prolong the contraction in house prices by artificially supporting the market. The market needs to normalise - the boom was artificial and unsustainable, but that doesn't appear to have ocurred to GB. He seems to have it in his 'towering intellect' that he can fix all this by throwing taxpayer's money at the problem.

Now, if I had taken on a mortgage of £400k and needed to take advantage of this little mortgage holiday, the chances are that I wouldn't have been able to afford it to begin with. If I were one of those who had lost their jobs, well that's what mortgage insurance is for. So this repreieve means I can get two more years of living in a house I can't afford without having to worry about it, at the taxpayer's expense, no less.

Far from treating the root of the problem, GB is encouraging us to spend and exacerbating the situation further. Imagine, if you will, that our economy is a castle that GB has built over the last ten years. It looked magnificent, and Gordon picked a spot that had a great view, but he forgot to check the soil and skimped on the foundations. It turns out it's on sand, and the weight of this monstrous construction is too much. Urgent work is needed to shore up the foundations before the mighty towers crumble and fall. Instead though, Gordon has called around his favourite architect, they're trying to build an extension to the east wing and add another floor on top, ignoring the fact that the building is collapsing around them.

Reality check. Please step outside the building and look at what is actually happening. Stop playing politics and grow a spine, stand up to the electorate, admit that you made a mistake and stop trying to buy their votes with crowd pleasing policies that are going to cripple us in the long-term.