Madness

On the subject of madness I believe that we all have the capacity for some madness, in fact it might be that the more intelligent we are the more capable of madness we are! You may ask why I make this statement? Well, given the recent events in the World financial markets and banking I think my point is copiously illustrated. The bankers and financial "wiz-kids" have been very clever in their conjuring with our money with sub-prime lending hedge funds, devised to make us (them) rich, have finally been exposed as totally indadequate in their profession. Further more their greed has caused them to panic and create even greater mayhem than necessary and probably to line their pockets even more through commissions on stock trading whether prices are going up or down.
Added to this is the further injury that no less than an ex-president of NASDAQ has just been exposed as the author of probably the world's largest single scam which may exceed $50 BILLION!!! The large banks bought into this scam, again a hedge fund, and now stand to lose billions themselves. So how does this leave us, the taxpayers, who have already baled out these inept bankers with our tax dollars?
Unlike the millions of people who have borrowed to the hilt on plastic at the encouragement of the banks, those of us who have no debts or mortgage but have endeavoured to lead to a financially prudent existence are the ones who are suffering most of all. With the possibility of a zero interest bank rate our savings are returning very little and our pensions invested in stocks have plummetted in value too. Whereas the "spend - spend" brigade with huge mortgages and on oversized houses and gas guzzling chelsea tractors are going to benefit the most from the governments two year payment holiday on mortgages at our expense!!
I believe that it is time to go back to basics where banks etc only lend 1.5 to 2.0 times the annual salary of the principal wagearner of the household and NOT 3 or 4 times the joint income. This would lead to more sensible property values and more affordable homes for ordinary people. Likewise overdrafts and credit card lending should be limited to the same restrictions and the banks get back to having real "bank managers" instead of these inexperienced twits who only want to sell you something (usually an overpriced service that you don't want or need) rather than to provide sound financial advice and sensible help when you need it.
So my friends, the inmates have been running the asylum for too long, it is time to lock up these idiots so we may retain our sanity.