Wednesday 21 January 2009

God (or anyone else) give me strength ...

So the credit bubble has burst - the economy has gone tits up and everyone seems to blaming the US economy, or just dropping the 'economy' bit and pointing a finger over the pond as to why it all happened.

And then I came across a briefing paper from the Adam Smith Institute written by Tim Ambler, which seems to conclude that more regulation in the credit industry isn't the answer ... instead that people in institutions like the Bank of England and the FSA should have their roles reformed, be monitored more closely and "should do the jobs they're supposed to do".

Now that's high powered thinking for you ... do their jobs better! The expression: "No shit, Sherlock!" springs to mind. Apparently it's the current strict regulation in other finanacial sectors that has resulted in financial organisation creating very complex products that no-one understands ... yup, I can just see all the guns pointed at their heads forcing them to do that.

And apparently bonuses paid to bankers (not sure about the spelling there) are needed for to "offset their natural tendency to risk avoidance" - right, because it was risk avoidance that landed us in this mess.

Leave it to the underwriters and their fat-cat bosses and we'll just end up in the same bloody mess sooner or later. You have to wonder what the hell this lot have been smoking!

No comments:

Post a Comment