Not content with focusing public ire on those social spongers who have the temerity to be unemployed or disabled, government has scored a great populist coup, and caused great rejoicing in the land of the tabloids, by decreeing that it is quite acceptable to kill burglars with machine guns, rocket propelled grenade launchers, tactical nuclear weapons or any of the other items the British householder keeps by them for such an emergency.
But if a burglar were to strip my home of its entire contents, it would not reach a tenth in value of the money that is going to be taken from me in taxation by government for the rest of my life to fund the bank bailouts in which my cash was given to reckless and incompetent bankers to cover their gambling losses.
Not only have they taken all my money, the majority of the money I shall be paying to cover it for the rest of my life, will consist of interest to the bankers because the government borrowed at interest from the bankers the money it then gave gratis to the bankers to bail them out.
And, as doubtless you will have noticed, nothing changed. No reduction in massive salaries and bonuses, no split of casino from high street banking, no transaction tax to deter multiple speculative trades. A million more unemployed, but none of them investment bankers – they have however sacked over a hundred thousand mostly female staff from their high street branches, which were the only sensible and profitable bit of the operation. No bankers in jail, not even for LIBOR fraud. Quantitive Easing, or printed money, is given not for infrastructure projects to produce growth, but given to banks to improve their liquidity. They do not lend it on to companies but pay it to themselves, as bonuses.
Forget burglars. Shoot a banker.
Stocks and Pillories would be more entertaining, as long as there is sufficient wilted produce for pelting, that is.
During the Bush regime, I suggested we take all the war criminals and divest them of their ill-gotten riches from the war, and requiring each to work at minimum wage jobs flipping burgers, living in tenements for a period not less than 10 years.
As for burglars versus bankers, the advice from a Hollywood gangster; “Never steal anything small”
“How was your sense of humour bypass? I bet you’re a hoot at a party.”
My thoughts also. But then, well they did fund Hitler’s war machine, and as a group they have probably funded both sides of many major conflicts.
‘Crucifixion is too good for em’ comes to mind.
I don’t know if a punishment has been invented that could seem like justice in the face of such inhumanity perpetrated for money. And they all do it, ‘it’s just a job’. Well I’d say there a breed as bad as any fascist or other nutty groups because there the enablers, an no kind of morals come into it.
I don’t believe in punishment but I do believe in stopping injustice. I was going to suggest the executions at Nuremberg as an example, I don’t think they needed to be killed but it’s hard to say the sentience was unjust, even if like me you believe killing is always wrong. Thinking of that example though, it was stupid to kill people who had already done the crime and I wonder if it was not more about emphasizing the ‘bad’ guys. Truth is there where many bad guys funding it, and they continue funding these things.
It’s a mad world these people create that can only lead to more injustice and destruction. As a feeling ‘Shoot the bankers’ is spot on IMO.
Make no mistake also. Destroying a country through fraud is not much different than war. Many thousands will still die where they otherwise would not. Malnutrition, suicide, increasing health costs for profit’s. And the bought and sold politicians will blame the victimises as they exploit them more than ever. You could not make it up, the low shitness they stoop to.
And did anyone get was Cameron was going on about recently? ‘He is just a simple guy who whats to take care of his family’? As if he ever has to worry about money, as if he has ever had to. What a joke of a man. Did he not say a while back he wanted to be some sort of barron or duke or some such titel? What a backwards step for society to have such class ideas.
@Komodo, re the Beeb article:
“long after Marxism had been discredited in the West” – tells the reader what to think of Marxism.
“An unrepentant Marxist” – in case we missed it the first time.
Normally the establishment bias from Auntie is a lot more subtle, and probably mostly subconscious anyway, but here I thought it was stronger than usual. Frustrating, since the purpose is ostensibly an obituary, which are traditionally respectful.
Amen,Craig. One nice thing about it; if you pick bankers from the right companies, you do not have to worry about “collateral damage”.
Should we shoot bankers? Would it not be better to take our money back off them? This one was shot.
http://johngossip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/engendering-sympathy-for-bankers.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXhqvAbUDmg
Bankers get thier just award.
“One year on, I think the only thing that’s changed is that it’s very nice to walk past St Paul’s again. Apart from that, I don’t think Occupy has changed anything, I don’t think it achieved anything and I think most people in the City have probably forgotten about it and don’t even realise that it’s the one-year anniversary.”
Joshua Raymond representing the City of London banking community.
“As to the after-effects of Occupy, it’s there, it’s in the background at least. It’s still in the public consciousness. People are still doing things, making connections, meeting each other and getting projects rolling. Some of it will be called Occupy and some of it won’t.
It is still a banner for a very broad-based group of people who are ready to talk to others they might not have met before, but have come to a shared understanding of the bankruptcy of our inherited economic model.”
Rich Paton -Occupy movement.
“My own perception is that the City of London as a key centre of the financial industry continues to grapple with issues of morality, integrity, financial regulation and policy. Occupy has not driven that process, but by its work has and does keep it in the public eye as a priority for policymakers.”
Very Reverend Dr David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral
The additional sanctions on Iran issued by the White House October 9th 2012 contain the word ‘treasury’ i.e. ‘bank’ fourteen (14) times. It seems Craig is right in his ‘tongue in cheek’ assumption that guns i.e. ‘conflict and war’ and money are synonymous – hence ‘shoot a banker’ – very clever.
In these recent sanctions we witness an extension to ‘goods’ and ‘property’ as a sufferance, a strong-arm tactic by America (and endorsed by Britain) towards a peaceful nation.
Interestingly we note the clauses, ‘used to commit serious human rights abuses against the people of Iran’ – as if to negate the distress, hardship, misery and torture of the Iranian people by this additional punitive legislation.
The prohibitions remind me of Palestine and Israel’s total lack of regard for the welfare of those imprisoned behind the shrinking concrete walls of a badland reservation, a dominion of severe poverty, disease and malnutrition.
To me it seems America has learned to express neither remorse or compassion from it’s own bombing and confiscation of tribal lands (Pine Ridge) and the massacre of its indigenous people (Wounded Knee).
I look you, President Obama in the face with the words of a fellow countryman:
“I know of no other instance in history where a great nation has so shamefully violated its oath. Our country must forever bear the disgrace and suffer the retribution of its wrongdoing. Our children’s children will tell the sad story in hushed tones, and wonder how their fathers dared so to trample on justice and trifle with God.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/10/09/executive-order-president-regarding-authorizing-implementation-certain-s
We need to fix the root causes.
1. LIBOR etc should be based only on public, open data. Nobody ever managed to tamper with the value of the FTSE-100, because everyone can calculate it for themself.
2. Instead of transaction tax, just rate-limit the transactions: all trades execute on the minute, every minute. Then humans can think as fast as the computers, and there is no unfair advantage from high-frequency trading (nor the problems that can result).
““I know of no other instance in history where a great nation has so shamefully violated its oath. Our country must forever bear the disgrace and suffer the retribution of its wrongdoing. Our children’s children will tell the sad story in hushed tones, and wonder how their fathers dared so to trample on justice and trifle with God.””
I am part Blackfoot/Cherokee, and many Americans share a bloodline with NA’s who understand
the History. Add to that my Scot/Irish ancestors who understand the tyranny of the Majority.
Now, go fish.
Phil 10:16
It appears that any calls for launching a criminal investigation are being ignored while talk of fines, under civil proceedings, is the preferred option.
However; manipulation of the Libor rate is covered adequately under Theft Act 1968 and the Fraud Act 2006 and as such is already a criminal offence. I query why this fact is not publically conceded by the government or the FSA.
Public confidence in the rule of law will be seriously undermined if Libor manipulation; money laundering, miss-selling and other crimes are not addressed in criminal proceedings. If the criminal justice system can send people to prison for benefit fraud or stealing water why does it fail to even prosecute the ‘elite’ fraudsters?
From the Guardian (28/09/12):
“Martin Wheatley, a senior regulator at the Financial Services Authority recommended that the FSA should regulate the Libor system, and told the Today programme that in the extreme cases those who manipulate Libor should go jail.”
[Why only in extreme cases? Fraud is fraud, theft is theft.]
“Wheatley wants the law to be changed to make it an offence to make a false or misleading statement to manipulate Libor.”
[As I have said these offences are covered under criminal law]
Wheatley goes on:
“This would enable the FSA to use criminal powers for the worst cases of attempted manipulation…”
[They already have this power!]
A press release from the Serious Fraud Office 30 July 2012 states:
“Further to our announcement on 2 July 2012, the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, David Green QC, is satisfied that existing criminal offences are capable of covering conduct in relation to the alleged manipulation of LIBOR and related interest rates.”
We are being misled by the government and the FSA.
Instead of anticipating fines the bankers and others should be packing small suitcases in anticipation of prison sentences.
I don’t recall ever reading such a succinct ‘on the button’ critique of the system as Murray’s piece here.
It was totally justified for him to have made the kind of obvious parallels that the mainstream media should be making in their editorials.
It rather reminded me of the polemic of Michael Moore in “Capitalism: A Love Story” – accurate, relevant and powerful.
That stirred something up in me, it really did.
See, the problem with shooting or lynching bankers is that someone will come along and object to violence and all that stuff.
So, I say throw those bankers to the crocodiles. Nobody objects to big hungry crocs being up for a bite. I think it’s entirely natural actually.
Welcome to the reality of conspiracies, common everyday events. It is just a bad word if used to point out the perpetrators of the largest conspiracies. Reality is this was planned behind closed doors and we are seeing the systematic looting of America and the world before the collapse. When the shtf lists of names of all these thieves need to be handed out and every one of them needs to be rounded up and publicly executed for crimes against humanity as an example to all who try try again.
Crime wave in the City of London
Hardly a week goes by without some new revelation of fraud and corruption in the heart of the City of London: mis-selling payment protection insurance, laundering drug money, breaking sanctions on Iran, handing out bribes to Middle Eastern sheikhs – the list goes on. Profit increasingly takes a parasitic form: interest, currency exchange deals and the manipulation of financial assets. Fraud is an extension of these methods of securing a share of surplus value and is invaluable to the British ruling class. However, the City has rivals for its dominant position in world finance and the cry of ‘foul’ has gone up, with demands for penalties and regulation. ‘A sword of Damocles is hanging over London,’ said one senior City figure quoted in the Financial Times (30 July 2012). Whatever the revelations and accompanying shows of remorse we can be sure that the City’s and the government’s priority is to remove that sword and keep the profits flowing in. TREVOR RAYNE reports.
The City has used its so-called ‘light-touch’ regulatory regime to attract more international banks to London than any other city in the world. Loopholes in regulations were carefully designed to be identified by lawyers and exploited to attract money to London. The US and Europe lost out and want business back. The US was central to revealing Barclay’s Libor dealings (see ‘Something rotten in the heart of the City’, FRFI 228 August/September 2012). The European Parliament intends to cap bonuses at a ratio of one to one with salaries. If implemented, this would drive bankers and dealers out of the City.
/..
http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/britain/2726-business-as-usual-for-the-banks
This was linked by James Petras in his piece on Disident Voice entitled
London: Parasites’s Paradise
Or the Best Criminal Sanctuary Money Can Buy/October 10th, 2012
{http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/10/london-parasitess-paradise/}
“Nobody ever managed to tamper with the value of the FTSE-100”
ROFL.
“When that burglar crosses your threshold, invades your home, threatens your family, they give up their rights”. Leader Dave.
Does this also apply to the Afghan who has his door kicked in at 3am by heavily armed English men?
Doug Scorgie 11 Oct, 2012 – 6:01 pm
“However; manipulation of the Libor rate is covered adequately under Theft Act 1968 and the Fraud Act 2006 and as such is already a criminal offence. I query why this fact is not publically conceded by the government or the FSA.”
Thanks for the info in your comment.
Presumably, as a criminal offense, it is within the powers of the police to prosecute?
An addendum to my post on housing. A classic illustration of the delusion of house owners and attitudes to the housing market is being broadcast right now (ITV1: The Housing Trap) where endless interviewees are dumfounded about either being unable to buy a house, or others are dumfounded about why they cannot sell their house in order to downsize, move abroac, create cash etc etc.
This programme studiously avoids ever mentioning the ONE thing that would enable all these people to carry on with their stated intentions: LOWER THE PRICE. This obvious answer is never mentioned, as though it is a religious taboo to do so. For those who stupidly bought houses at an inflated price, rather than admitting their mistake, they are STILL hanging on to a notion of entitlement for a perceived right to make a profit, or at the very least break even, and in the absence of both, they refuse to sell.
On the other hand, we have a parade of first time buyers, or mortgagees living in a dismal, cramped starter home for which they too paid excessively, who, rather than stick it out and call the bluff of those who refuse to lower the price of their former dream home, prefer to go to extremes to get the mortgage they need in order to climb the ladder. At no point do these staggeringly naive buyers ever consider that the simple solution is to OFFER LESS THAN THE ASKING PRICE.
The property market is in flux because those at its polarised ends refuse to face reality. Housing is plentiful. There have been more homes on sale in the last three years than at any time in history. There is NO shortage of housing. There is a glut. The shortage myth is promoted by those with a vested interest in keeping prices high.
Rightmove and other agents have enormous numbers of houses for sale on their books. The shortage is a manufactured story created by all the combined vested interests in keeping this fairytale alive: Estate agents, Surveyors, valuers, developers, builders, governmnent, building societies and, most perniciously of all, the media, whose own vested interest ranges from the personal property portfolios of TV producers to the endless property porn programmes appearing like a rash on all channels.
The solution is so simple. LOWER THE PRICE. No amount of schemes, so-called “affordable” housing projects, shared ownership, special cases (nurses, firemen, teachers etc etc) will alter the fact that housing is too expensive. Those who bought at the end of the biggest, most damaging bubbles in the history of property are going to have to come clean. They bought at ridiculous prices and now they are going to have to sell at a loss. The government is beside itself to give the impression of not abandoning those stupid people, but they will have to.
The damage done to them will be a great deal less than propping up the banks, who encouraged the bubble, for the next ten or fifteen years.
Let houses find their own sensible price without manipulation from interest rates, Kirsty Allsop et al, and the whole edifice of property bullshit. The pain will be short lived compared with artificially propping up an unsustainable false economy.
The housing gamble has RUINED this economy and those of many European nations. Every single banking excess, con, dodgy loan, flakey mnortgage, derivative, bond issue and bail out have their roots in the absurd notion that property alone creates wealth. We have learned that it doesn’t and yet the naive, stupid fantasy still persists that somehow property ownership is a substitute for WORK.
I think i’d prefer to have them all jailed in special open windowed jails in town centers and central squares so we can all go and look at them daily and throw a few tomatoes and rotten vegetables as and when we feel like it – all done in a an ironic post modern way of course
Apple Pies (11 Oct, 2012 – 8:04 pm): You need to watch yourself making remarks like that these days – it might land you in jail, or with hundreds of hours of community service plus fine. And I might be right there too, for agreeing with you.
@Abe Renne: “As I se it, the reason why New Labour bailed out Northern Rock was not for the sake of the bankers but to prevent millions of core Labour supporters losing their savings, and consequently the party losing a large number of seats in parliament.”
No. Northern Rock was largely bailed out not in order to protect savers, but to protect BORROWERS who took out excessive, unsecured, interest-only mortgages, thereby supporting inflated house prices. At the time, almost the entire British economy was predicated on the fantasy that housing assets were the backbone of the feel good factor. This fantasy was in danger of collapsing and the Labour Government was not about to let that happen.
Alistair Darling could have bailed out the Northern Rock savers at a fraction of the cost of bailing out Northern Rock itself. Subsequent bank bailouts had nothing to do with supporting joe public but everything to do with supporting the banks themselves. Almost every major bank could have been allowed to go bankrupt while at a tiny fraction of the bail out cost the individual investors could have been compensated.
All quantatitive easing has achieved is too pour billions of taxpayers cash down a giant sieve which leaked at the sides. None of that cash reached the supposed intended target but was syphoned off to reward those whose failure evoked the bail outs in the first place. QE has been spectacularly wasteful. Billions of hard earned cash fleeced from the tax payer has propped up the perpetuation of corporate lifestyles, and almost none of that cash has reached the intended goal. I say intended but I am not even sure that the bail outs ever did have any intention of solving the problem at all.
It would have been better to take a quarter of that bail out cash and give it straight to the consumer. Though at first sight questionable, it would have reflated the economy a hundred times more efficiently than handing a crutch to the bankers who have used that cash to get themselves out of jail and continue their appalling greed.
http://occupycorporatism.com/swiss-study-shows-147-technocratic-super-entities-rule-the-world/
Radio 5 was on about the cost of food this morning; One example was a shopper complaining he cann`t afford the £14 lamb joint.
Well buy a tin of sardines like the best of us…
In local supermarkets joints (of meat!) have security tags.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBOMBSDQsI
Bill Hicks. RIP
For the Sanctimonious out there!
And it’s not just bankers that need dealing with. What about British Gas. Their profits this year were only up by 23% on last year. So they are raising Gas and Electricity bills by 8% per household. Re-nationalise and take the profits from those who have just taken advantage of its monopolies.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19912951
The gangsters and an equal number of gangsteresses in charge John.
http://www.centrica.com/index.asp?pageid=794
British Gas is also colluding with Israel in stealing the Palestinians’ gas off the Gaza coast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjuu89B-Myc&feature=related
Sorry to troll.
CENTRICA PLS
http://www.worksmart.org.uk/company/company.php?id=03033654
Salaries
Number of staff: 34,125
Total spent on wages: £1,223,000,000
Average staff pay: £35,838.83 *
——————————————————————————–
Number of directors: 38
Directors’ remuneration: £7,184,000.00
Increase over last 7 years: 82.57%
Highest paid director’s salary: £2,011,000.00 **
Increase over last 7 years: 83.15%
Clark
Off Topic Techie talk – Normal humans please ignore.
There is a problem with the security certificate for Craigs server. The host name of the server is set incorrectly.
Visit the secure site https://www.craigmurray.org.uk and you will see what I mean.
Craig is of course highlighting the absurdity of the Tory postion rather than truly advocating that bankers be shot. I think. Though of course we can but speculate as to what exactly we have to do to get rid of these odious, life-wrecking parasites. By which I mean bankers of course. It’s a tough question. Basically, the vast majority of the banking establishment are what we used to rather quaintly called ‘crooks’. Glen Greenwald posits the idea that essentially, the wealthy elites in the US are immune from prosecution. I think he’s spot on, and like much else this bizarre phenomenon is moving toward the UK. Not one banker has gone to jail. The endemic corruption, fraud, outright theft, and bullshit has resulted in zero jailtime for everybody involved. Shooting them may be harsh, but if we won’t\can’t even fire them, I’m at a loss. I certainly wouldn’t vote for them, which is what you are doing when you vote for any of the 3 parties in a UK election …
So, what is to be done, as some bloke once asked. I’ve no idea. I begin to wonder if we should all start discussing civil cases with lawyers. I personally banked with RBS for over 10 years, and I imagine they screwed me over in some manner or other, probably charges: perhaps I could sue? Faint hope on that score. I guess we just have to wait for the next crash (within 5 years has always been my guess), then riot. And not stop.