Sorry seems to be the hardest word

Watched the gang of four on TV last night offering their rehearsed apologies. the 'apologies' were meant to head off the drubbing I guess. I agree with the Select Committee chairman in his view that they were sorry only in the sense that they regretted what had happened, well they would be wouldn't they as it stopped the gravy train, but not sorry in the sense of personal culpability.

Hornby is now a consultant with Lloyds Banking Group, advising on how to obtain maximum value from the HBOS takeover - in other words, telling them how many people to sack and how to screw suppliers still further. For this he is paid £60K.

A month, that is.

What a price for failure. Why is it that these failures always seem to manage to bounce back? Old boys club dies hard

Folks who have disproportionately lined their own pockets at the expense of the nation being asked questions by hardworking honest good value elected public servants.

Or have I got that the wrong way round?

Banks got greedy, whoop-de-do, news flash there. Private enterprise will always go after the buck, it's pretty much the exact definition of private enterprise, it worked for so long that people were beginning to profer Thatcher up for sainthood. It's the job of government to regulate that greed, and they failed. But whilst it's tempting just to blame the current incumbents, in truth Reagan and Thatcher are just as much to blame as Brown and Bush.

And to be fair, we've had a reasonable run, perhaps quarter century of boom followed by five years of bust is a preferable cycle to constant creep.

Meh, it's happened before, it'll happen again, the bankers concerned yesterday are just four of a slimy greedy bunch. And greed is what makes capitalism work - whether that's a good thing or not is another matter altogether.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Folks who have disproportionately lined their own pockets at the expense of the nation being asked questions by hardworking honest good value elected public servants.

Or have I got that the wrong way round?

Banks got greedy, whoop-de-do, news flash there. Private enterprise will always go after the buck, it's pretty much the exact definition of private enterprise, it worked for so long that people were beginning to profer Thatcher up for sainthood. It's the job of government to regulate that greed, and they failed. But whilst it's tempting just to blame the current incumbents, in truth Reagan and Thatcher are just as much to blame as Brown and Bush.

And to be fair, we've had a reasonable run, perhaps quarter century of boom followed by five years of bust is a preferable cycle to constant creep.

Meh, it's happened before, it'll happen again, the bankers concerned yesterday are just four of a slimy greedy bunch. And greed is what makes capitalism work - whether that's a good thing or not is another matter altogether.

Bang on the money.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

It's the job of government to regulate that greed, and they failed.

Not only that, but by taxing savings they forced financial institutions to take bigger risks to get the returns savers needed

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

But whilst it's tempting just to blame the current incumbents, in truth Reagan and Thatcher are just as much to blame as Brown and Bush.

Nah. If Brown didn't see this coming, you can hardly blame Thatcher.

Originally Posted by MiniMatt

Meh, it's happened before, it'll happen again, the bankers concerned yesterday are just four of a slimy greedy bunch. And greed is what makes capitalism work - whether that's a good thing or not is another matter altogether.

Might not be good, but it's the least worst.

isnt it time we all moved on? we've worked out who's to blame, they've had their rollicking, can they/we/us now concentrate on resolving this sticky situation...

just a thought like...

As a freemason I object to the suggestions of corruption and greed. I suggest to you that you have not the slightest inclanation what freemasonry is about, is he a freemason?
Perhaps we should be saying the banking industry is riddled with greed and corruption
AN APOLOGY WOULD BE NICE as I don't like being put down by people who don't even know me

[Biker Biggles]

The real lesson we will fail to learn here is that these people who earn vast amounts of money on the basis that they are irreplaceable and "very special"are actually nothing special and no different to millions of other hard working intelligent people.They and many others like them are not worth the huge salaries and continue to con the rest of us by threatening to clear off elsewhere if we wont pay them "properly".Theres plenty more still pulling this fast one in every walk of life,not just banking.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

As a freemason I object to the suggestions of corruption and greed. I suggest to you that you have not the slightest inclanation what freemasonry is about, is he a freemason?
Perhaps we should be saying the banking industry is riddled with greed and corruption
AN APOLOGY WOULD BE NICE as I don't like being put down by people who don't even know me

Why get so upset?

If you are a member of a secret society (or a society with secrets as I believe the preferred term is) you cant get upset when someone from outside of your Sky-Fairy Believing Society questions what goes on behind its closed doors.

Its not you thats being attacked - but if all is above board why the secrecy?

Perhaps its because we do good things in this world that we don't want praise for unlike many others.Perhaps its because we are non religious.perhaps its because we are non political,non racist,and open to all men of good character.Privacy,secrets seems a bit far fetched when I can go to several sites where every part of our organisation is there for examination
I agree it wasn't a personal attack but I am sure if I started saying similar about IT Operatives, Lawyers,Medical Staff or such like we would get a few retorts.
Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing so when its something you don't know about best to say nothing.

Originally Posted by keithd

isnt it time we all moved on? we've worked out who's to blame, they've had their rollicking, can they/we/us now concentrate on resolving this sticky situation...

just a thought like...

a HUGE pay cut would see them good, could use the saved monies to help people keep their homes.