Whitey Grandad

Nothing of the voodoo about it: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080917194649AAazgnj http://www.moneyexpertise.co.uk/what-has-caused-credit-crunch.html 'The credit crunch cannot be said to have been caused by any one aspect; those who suggest that the current crisis has been caused solely by the ‘evils’ of fat cat bankers are painting an overly simplistic picture.' The current (September 2010) view amongst economists is they still do not understand exactly what happened to cause the Credit Crunch, but that they expect to be able to keep debating it for years to come.

No, I did not consider it relevant to this debate.

Interesting that you raise Robert Peston. I blame him for the severity of the UK recession. All his talk at the time about how bad it could get and how we could be in for a 30's style slump must have been worth at least a couple of percentage points. Funny how he never saw it coming, did he?

Which one? That the banks caused a recession that caught the government unawares? The banks did not cause this recession, just as they did not cause the previous ones. The government spent money that they did not have because they thought that the good times could 'only get better'. Just like everybody else who overborrowed. Are you going to blame the banks for lending to these people? Perhaps if they had imposed tougher lending criteria then things would not have collapsed so spectacularly, but you are really talking about American banks here in the North American housing market where people like Clinton were encouraging home ownership amongst people who could not really afford it. Once more than a small percentage started to default then everything went belly up and we were caught in the downdraught.

No, the banks were only one of many causes.

They're a bit too barren for me. I'm more like, caribbean?

That's a different argument. We were looking at the direct cost to the British Government of underwriting the british banking system, on which we shall come out ahead of the game. The global recession has cost almost everybody one hell of a lot more than that. My pension fund is unaffected by any of this, but only because I don't have one. I think you'll find that the colossal overspending in the last 10 years plays a far greater role in the need for higher taxation than dodgy bank investments.

Once the RBS share price reaches about 56p then we have broken even on it.

Nice idea but.... no beaches.

'cause they is uneducated peasants, innit.

Of course, we must never forget the Great Man. Pity though, for many years now I have been studying the world's weather records trying to discover my Shangri La where all can live in comfort, peace and harmony and I can sit peacefully doing my jigsaws. If my wrist holds out that long.

Nothing to do with living in Switzerland, then?

No, it's not just you. I think it may not even be a sell-out.

The banks have to pay very high levels of interest if they draw on the reserves on offer. The maximum liability will never need to be paid, just having the government's signature at the bottom is enough to ensure that. We have picked up a couple of major banking enterprises for a song, becuase they were on their knees and nobody else could afford it. We shall cash in nicely on the deal, at the right time.

That's very true. Banking services are an essential catalyst for trade, but they are as much an overhead as insurance and in no way are they wealth that has been created.

Fair enough. Things have changed. Banks now have to have a greater credit margin, or whatever it's called, a larger part of their assets has to be in cash. They are gradually rebuilding their balance sheets and are unlikely to make the same mistakes as before... ... until the next time. It was a failure of regulation as much as slack banking.

I'm nearly 62 and I run my own business. Two and a half years ago I was close to selling it to my best customer and gently easing myself into a comfortable but not luxurious back seat. Then the credit crunch arrived, my customer got cold feet and sales orders fell off the edge of a cliff, so after living off savings for a couple of years I'm back to where I was about 5 years ago, but poorer. I do have a plan, but it involves working in at least a part-time capacity for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately severe arthritic wear in my right wrist means that CAD work or using a mouse is going to get progressively more difficult, which is a disappointment because I always used to think that if all else failed I could always work with my hands. Oh well, that's getting old for you.

He slipped twice, if I recall correctly, but that's what can happen when you water the pitch at half-time after days of torrential rain. I suppose the pitch is covered? I agree, he doesn't seem overawed and slips comfortably into the role. I'm sure he will turn out ok, but can we afford to wait that long?

Now you're being silly... The £20bn is more than offset by the wasted billions. Besides, there's more to sound government than a Profit & Loss account. As far as bank bonuses go, I find them deeply repulsive. They also encourage excessive risk-taking which was one of the main causes of the collapse in financial confidence.

I really don't think that Pompey players are any more erudite than those at other clubs, TBH.

Oh no! By referring to the Nazis you have now invoked Godwin's Law and the convention is that once this has happened the thread be closed

If so that might be significant. If a player hand in a transfer request then they forego any golden goodbye that they may be entitled to.

Good point. That just about sums it up.

At the moment the British taxpayer is about £20bn up on the deal, and rising.

All these workers that you have named are in the Public Sector so the taxes that they pay are taken out of their salaries which have been paid by taxes on the private sector, which includes bankers.