Global financial crisis

I have found recent events very interesting and I think it raises a few important questions.

From a UK perspective we have recently had Northern Rock being privatised to save it and more recently the Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS.

On the day the Lloyds TSB/HBOS deal became news I was listening to radio 5 live throughout the day and it was very interesting how the story unfolded.

1. A journalist scoops the story of “advanced merger talks”.
2. There are claims that the PM himself had a hand in the deal coming together.
3. It becomes obvious that the deal breaches UK competition law.
4. The chancellor then states that the government had nothing to do with the deal but would do everything it could to allow it to happen and “relax” competition law to allow the deal to go ahead.

OK so I'm paranoid and think everyone is lying to me anyway, but no government involvement in the deal – come off it!

I'm sure the government would have faced a lot of criticism from other parties if it had been seen to have played and major part in brokering the deal, and this explains the chancellors statement.

But lets face facts, the government couldn't privatise yet another bank let alone one as big as HBOS, but equally it couldn't let it go under, so another solution was needed – enter stage right Lloyds TSB.

So we are expected to believe that Lloyds TSB pursued this deal knowing that it would breach UK competition law without some nod from the government!

OK, so you might say the government had no choice – it couldn't let HBOS fail and destroy the financial markets.

Well why not – let face it, capitalism widens the gap between rich and poor, destroys and plunders the planets resources for the benefit of the few, is responsible for wars and famine.

Do I have a better system? That's not really the point and is often used to silence justifiable criticism and is such a huge topic that needs a lot of discussion, and lets face it, the people in power are happy with they're lot, and we will not look for a better solution until we are forced to.

So in the meantime the governments of the world will bail out the bankers who have created to whole mess (and have received massive bonuses for doing so), whilst the public pay for their mistake through their taxes and no doubt more expensive banking.

And in the UK we end up with a bank so large that the laws to protect consumers had to be changed to allow it.

So the banks win again with an even bigger and more powerful business as a reward for messing up in the first place!

Isn't the government doing a great job representing the interests of the people and the country?