Ed

Pedro - I agree that this is really a window dressing exercise. The frivolous waste of our money happens every day. What I'm really concerned about are two points:

1. They should have guaranteed consumer deposits only - it's fair to protect consumers but not to protect those sufficiently informed to look after themselves and make an informed decision. Given the window-dressing because of NR's apparent solvency this of course isn't really an issue for now.
2. It's the future precedent. Will the government guarantee other banks which turn out not to be solvent? And who else will receive this sort of support? If you read the signals and timed your share purchase correctly, some investors will have profited hugely from the fact that the government was so panicked. I can't honestly think why, with such huge swings in the share price, dealings in NR shares weren't suspended. Perhaps this partly explains the timing of the government announcement.