Bank bosses furious about additional levy...

[Manks]

"A senior banker said "this feels a bit like the last soldier killed before the armistice - if there is an armistice."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpest...

[crankedup]

Don't believe a word of it! bankers and Government in deal, as long as bankers shout indignation at Governments 'extortionate exploitation' of banks ability to make profits. Then Joe Public thinks the Government has 'done' the banks as promised everyone is happy.

[Fittster]

crankedup said:

Don't believe a word of it! bankers and Government in deal, as long as bankers shout indignation at Governments 'extortionate exploitation' of banks ability to make profits. Then Joe Public thinks the Government has 'done' the banks as promised everyone is happy.

What would make you happy?

[Bing o]

The comments on that page make me sad.

[Manks]

None of it is real is it.

The banks won't do anything at all that doesn't suit them.

The government needs the banks and is just posturing.

It's one big Punch and Judy show.

[JagLover]

Unlike the bonus tax the levy actually adresses the root cause of the crises as it manifested in Britain, over reliance on the wholesale markets for funding.

[Skipppy]

Bing o said:

The comments on that page make me sad.

Funny how the BBC's website is allowing viewers to comment on this story. I've never been able to comment on other topics hosted on their website...

[Fittster]

Skipppy said:

Bing o said:

The comments on that page make me sad.

Funny how the BBC's website is allowing viewers to comment on this story. I've never been able to comment on other topics hosted on their website...

I think you can comment on this as its a blog rather than a news story.

[SplatSpeed]

peanuts

where were these guys when GB raped my industry out of 10 Bn pounds

and we didn't get the bailouts first

[crankedup]

Fittster said:

What would make you happy?

Continued good health and happiness for myself,wife, family,friends.

[WhoseGeneration]

crankedup said:

Continued good health and happiness for myself,wife, family,friends.

I assume you include your Internet "friends".
For, if not, perhaps there are some to whom you do not wish such satisfaction.

[CobolMan]

Bing o said:

The comments on that page make me sad.

There are a couple of regular posters on Peston's blog who really want to live in some Socialist Utopia. The fact that they are able to make pretty lengthy posts during the working day does make we wonder if they're actually employed in a worthwhile capacity. So guys, how about those of you who do understand the financial world (soovy, Tonker, etc) responding to some of the cr4p that appears on Peston's blogs?

[crankedup]

WhoseGeneration said:

I assume you include your Internet "friends".
For, if not, perhaps there are some to whom you do not wish such satisfaction.

Absolutely, yes of course, even those that have stated that I am a Socialist, Commie fkwit and lots of other less endearing names Its all part of the jolly banter that is PH.

[WhoseGeneration]

crankedup said:

Absolutely, yes of course, even those that have stated that I am a Socialist, Commie fkwit and lots of other less endearing names Its all part of the jolly banter that is PH.

So, no conviction then.
Believe me, there are many to whom I do not wish "happiness".

[Jackleman]

One idea, have the state owned banks pay for the difference in student fees increase. Then my piss won't boil as much at the students or bankers being in the news so much.

[don4l]

In the 1970's, the Labour government tried to raise more money by increasing taxes. Each time that they increased the rate of tax, the amount of tax raised actually dropped. The biggest earners moved abroad. It became known as "the Brain Drain".

Why can we not learn from history?

Don
--

[Fittster]

don4l said:

In the 1970's, the Labour government tried to raise more money by increasing taxes. Each time that they increased the rate of tax, the amount of tax raised actually dropped. The biggest earners moved abroad. It became known as "the Brain Drain".

Why can we not learn from history?

Is the lesson that we should implement a Land Value Tax? It's hard to move chunks of central London offshore.

[WhoseGeneration]

Fittster said:

Is the lesson that we should implement a Land Value Tax? It's hard to move chunks of central London offshore.

Not hard to move the previous occupants though.
Then, this reference to central London, does it include all the public, I'm thinking Government, LAs and HAs and Royal land?
I can see the taxpayer having a hefty bill.
Oh and you'd need a "Storey multiplier".

[JagLover]

don4l said:

In the 1970's, the Labour government tried to raise more money by increasing taxes. Each time that they increased the rate of tax, the amount of tax raised actually dropped. The biggest earners moved abroad. It became known as "the Brain Drain".

Why can we not learn from history?

Don
--

If we were implementing the bonus tax as a permanant measure (as Balls proposes) then there would indeed be a mass exodus from the city. The Levy is a tax on banks' reliance on the wholesale markets for funding and so mainly hits retail banks.

On a side note did anyone see Balls on the news describing this as a 'tax cut' because the government isn't continuing with the bonus tax. Only the cretinous morons who make up Labour's core vote would fail to realise that a) the bonus tax was always a one off populist measure b) if made permanant within a few years we wouldn't have an investment banking sector.

[Digga]

JagLover said:

The Levy is a tax on banks' reliance on the wholesale markets for funding and so mainly hits retail banks.

NW posted this link to a CML report regarding mortgages on the House Price saga/thread: http://redirectingat.com/?id=1044X509854&xs=1&...

It's clear that the wholesale finance is one of the key problems with mortgages and also (I guess) with other lending.

I see from the BBC/Peston links that the task of closing the stable door, long after the horse has bolted, in regard to business lending, has been given a name; Project Merlin. I'd not heard much of that for a month or so. It's only a good two years after the very definite problem had been flagged by Alistair Darling, Merv King and also the IMF - too late to save those businesses that went under and, by the time it's ready, probably irrelevant because conditions will have improved anyway.