On Dec 10, 7:55*pm, Bruce wrote:
On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:10:15 +0000 (UTC),



(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
In article ,
* *Bruce writes:
On Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:07:36 +0000, Tim W wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8406670.stm

[ "Captain" Darling short of 36 billion ]

And I thought my housekeeping was bad!

Anyone see the last episode of Spooks where the country is about to go
formally bankrupt and Roz saves the day by getting medieval on some gangsta-
banker's ass? Makes you wonder...

They could save 1.5 billion by taking the top layer of the RBS investment
banking arm outside and putting them on community service for 2 years.

I fully understand people's anger at the bankers, but what I don't
understand is where the same people think the wealth and taxes are
going to come from to get the UK out of this recession.

When "New" Labour came to power, 20% of the UK's GDP came from
manufacturing. *That is now down to 11%. *The importance of the City
of London and its investment bankers is therefore even greater now
than ever before.

Yes, I don't understand this either. The City provides something
between 28% and 33% of the Treasury's annual income, and is one
of the world's top 3 financial centres. OK, they screwed up, but
closing down that sector is just chucking the baby out with the
bathwater, and permanent loss of that revenue stream leaves us
far more screwed than we already are.

Most of the shortfall in Corporation Tax receipts - by far the biggest
hole in Captain Darling's rapidly sinking ship - is a result of the
slump in profits from banking and insurance. *So however much we hate
the bankers, unless the financial sector gets its arse back into gear
double quick, we may be in for a long and very painful recession.

Quite. Requiring financial institutions to maintain capital
reserves at a level to match their risk taking (which is being
done) seemed like a good way to mitigate the risk. Launching a
witch hunt is just pandering to the masses for retribution,
which can only do tremendous damage (because the masses don't
actually know what the City does).

Exactly. *

The masses don't understand a lot of things, not just the City. *

For example, they say they don't "believe in" climate change, as if it
was no more than an issue of personal religious faith, and you could
choose whether to believe it or not. *That's like saying you don't
"believe in" income tax, or heart disease.

Climate change is very real and has always been. Man made climate
change is the new religion.

AGW