If banks are to continue receiving implicit government guarantees then regulatory steps will have to be taken to ensure that these guarantees are reflected in their financial management, remuneration policies and risk controls. How exactly this can be done is a complex subject which economists, financiers and politicians will need to debate and to which different countries will probably find different answers.
But something clearly must be done to ensure that banks, their employees and their shareholders pay an adequate price for the implicit insurance they enjoy from governments and taxpayers - whether those governments are in America and Europe or in Asia and the Middle East. In the case of Britain, ensuring that the shareholders of Northern Rock lose every penny of their investment would be a good place to start.
[My emphasis]
What is a decent socialist supposed to do when the capitalist hyenas start tearing lumps out of their own kind?
1 comment:
I entirely agree with Mr Kaletsky. Shareholders take a gamble out of greed. It is no different from roulette, the lottery, horse betting or any other forms of gambling. If they lose, they lose and no-one would suggest compensating losers in these fields. Quite frankly I am sick fed up of all the whinging from these greedy little shareholders.
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