Tuesday 13 March 2012

TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE

So Sir Mervyn King thinks bankers are delusional, hugely arrogant, with an overwhelming sense of entitlement, believing themselves exempt from laws which others should live by. Yup, those I have met, lived with, listened to, yup, I would say that was about right. I am sure Sir Meryn is not totally self deprecating, but as a senior banker himself, who must have known some mega egos in his time, dealing with politicians and the like, his inside knowledge and understanding of city people must be exquisitely accurate. I have always found he talks sense and I shall read his interview in the Times with interest. He always seems surprised the British public have not been more enraged by City behaviour - I think the reality is that if more of us mixed with them, we would be but thankfully they do tend to keep within a bubble amongst their own kind.

My ex, senior in RBS, only the other day told me the politicians should leave the banks well alone to do what they do. (he works in the bit of RBS that makes money he tells me). The point is the politicians did this and look what happened. He didn't wince at the irony when he said it. Of course all this 'tangible' hatred Sir Mervyn talks about towards the City is useless unless the structure of the establishment changes and the government has failed to do this. They have not been able or willing to separate the risk taking element from the mortgage bit, probably because, like some honey fungus, the two are intricably interlinked and it would be far too painful to do so. Or perhaps because like some honey fungus (it spreads far and wide underground for those who aren't gardeners amongst you) the city and the politicians are intricably interlinked. Personally I have always hoped there would be a house of cards effect and they all go down, because I suspect there are an awful lot of conversations going a long the lines of 'if I go down, you go down with me' amongst the media, the police, the city, the establishment.

There must be some way the public can work around the banks, other than using the likes of wongas.com, and circumvent the banking system just as we try to do those who work in it in our social lives.

However, what is concerns me most is that bankers, the ones who have made serious money (as in unimaginable undeserved amounts of money) are leaving the business or have left already with their pensions and pay offs. They may be doing something worthy or worthwhile. I think the guys from Innocent and Ocado are ex bankers and I admit I stopped using their service when I realized they were. I didn't want them to make more money out of me. Some of them have even entered the world of spirituality and healing. Mmm. That's a difficult one. I should imagine it's difficult to sell soul once you have sold your own but then again, perhaps that's how it seemed to work in banking.

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