How the Banks Won
As the government prepares an emergency budget to help pay for the bank bailout, Will Hutton investigates the banks and what they've done with our money. He discovers that while ordinary taxpayers take the pain, for the banks it's largely business as usual.
Hutton analyses the banks' accounts and shows how they are using government-guaranteed funds to gamble with derivatives as they did before the crash. He also reveals how the banks are still paying vast salaries and bonuses, and City head hunters tell Dispatches how the banks hide the sums they're really paying out.
With the help of former and current members of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, Hutton shows how the banks' booming margins come from the free and near-free money the government and taxpayers gave them to save the banking system. He also investigates the banks' intense lobbying to resist government plans for reform and highlights recent research from the OECD on how Britain is internationally unusual in the extent to which bankers have key roles in the civil service and government.
Featuring high-powered contributors such as President Obama's banking advisor Paul Volcker, former Chancellor Alastair Darling, former City minister Lord Myners and current Business Secretary Vince Cable, Hutton shows why without urgent reform we risk the prospect of another crash - this time there won't be any money left for a bail-out - plus the certainty of British business being starved of vital funding. With the Eurozone crisis fueling fears of another banking crash, this programme is an urgent and shocking call to action.
If you got screwed by a bank you want vengeance... understood but likely your efforts better spent finding positive way forward in your life. I've been screwed by market manipulators(banks). It burns but you have to let it go or it eats you.
To me [UkPhil] has the good freedom loving attitude towards the situation. If you don't like the big banks don't use those big banks. Further, it seems more helpful to bring about their demise getting the word out on better alternatives rather than just saying there are some. Appreciate those that tried.
Although they are more customer oriented, many credit unions will fail along with the banks when the next banking crisis hits, causing an economic crisis. Loans to customers who then lose their jobs in such a crisis does not make for a sound place to store ones money.
The video via Volcker and others suggests separating the trading arms from the commercial or deposit arm of the bank. That used to be the case in the usa before congress, at the request of the bank lobby, allowed the Glass-Steagall act to be repealed. The act established in 1933 usa to prevent such banking crisis was repealed in 1999 putting us all at grave risk, on purpose. The puppet masters want to take your dough. They don't want to give it back. They don't want you to have any. Money is freedom and power in this day and age. You are deemed not worthy to have any of that so to be able to resist their plans.
To opine that we need to get away from money is nice but even prisoners find a need to have a medium of exchange; cigarettes or whatever. Which is more detestable cigarettes or fiat currency? If I were a retail shop owner I wouldn't particular relish a truckload of chickens from a chicken farmer to pay for a car or some other item; nor cigarettes, nor fiat paper debt dollars, sterling, euros, etc.
What is needed is a currency that cannot be inflated or deflated at the whim of the banksters for their gain at our expense. That is why the founders of the usa stipulated gold to be the only currency. Great idea but it also has problems. Is it real or fake? The expense to get it assayed every time you wanted to spend it would be prohibitive. The reasons those in Cyprus during their crisis, who had gold, ended up selling it for far less than they thought it was worth in order to get paper cash that the retailers would accept. And who wants to carry gold around? The invention of the Debit card seems sane ...if tied to a gold account held in a place that does NOT make loans. Converting banks to depositories that just charge a service for storage and transactions would eliminate a lot of fast and looseness with our dough. Credit cards are another drain on peoples' lives we don't really need. What the hay is wrong with living within one's means?
What about buying a house or car that you cannot afford? The prices would come way down if one was forced to save up until you had the money to plunk down on it. Bank credit is how inflation is accelerated. Denying credit, loan defaults, and bank defaults is how deflation is accelerated. What is the rat race but trying to keep up with inflation and not defaulting during deflation, apart from living beyond one's means? We all might be more friendly if we knew what we had on deposit wasn't at risk and worrying about it losing value or disappearing.
Is the tried and true "pay as you go" method so vile as to be unacceptable? The investment banks would still be free to exist same as stock, bond, and commodity or futures brokers, as separate entities where you have to take what ever amount of gold you want to risk and hand it over to them. Although I'm sure that would be deemed unacceptably inconvenient, it certainly would put realism onto what you were doing. The elimination of fractional reserve banking of any type along with the elimination of fiat paper currencies would stabilize any economy and reduce much of these types of problems ...until the banksters buy the govt again while the people do nothing and do their best to remain ignorant by watching the bankster owned media.
Really are writing a excellent writing, But in every case i can't agree with you.Otherwise, i become the fan of your thoughts.
Here in the USA, the bankers (owned and controlled by the elite families) are purchasing up the means of the production of food. My only critique of this documentary is that they basically discuss the skirmishes and the ammunition... but they completely fail to discuss the core ownership of all of these banks in The City.
The core ownership/Boards of Directors of these banks are calling the shots. We deserve to know exactly who they are, their interrelationships, who they have installed in the government to operate on their behalf, etc. That would be real journalism.
Bankers need to be taken out into the streets and hung from lamp posts. That's the only way these psychopaths will learn.
When a person is an addict he/she cares not for anything except the addiction!
When the person (in this case the banker[s]) has a gambling addiction it is just as destructive. The denial is infinite. But when the gambling addict has no rock bottom and is spoiled by constant bail out by his/her family then you have a black hole that sucks in everything. Their home(Nation) is lost, family (society) suffers divorce after suffering financial (economic) ruin, and his/her parents (Governments) go broke foolishlyand blindly supporting and spoiling the gambling addict.
The banking industry needs a global gamblers anonymous program. Except they should not be allowed to be anonymous.
"Greed is good." ~ Gordon Gecko.
Those who have power, fear to lose it. I hope there is grass root movements. The Foundering fathers of the States set up the constitution with the hope and belief that the American people would stand up, and would need to stand up against their government as it corrupted. Marriage of Business and State is as unhealthy for a population as marriage of Church and State.
how long until the european spring? is the plan to more closely monitor the internet being made because they know its inevitable, also I wonder just how hyprocritcal they will be, i bet its a bloodbath, maybe this is why they are trying to reduce feelings of nationism and diluting populations, this could be a solution to the problem of soldiers not killing their own people, if they have no feelings towards them then why not, little bit of propoganda is all that will be required to help them along with this, there are lots of other advantages of globalisation like outsourcing jobs to countries which pay the lowest wages, how long until they start employing people in prison to do high street jobs to make bigger profits for the people at the top? I forgot they are already trying to get it through parliament, I could go on all day and is it really wise to let people know you are on to them, seriously why do you think detaining people under the terrorism act without charging them is so good for this regime
Buisnesses in the US have been using prisoners to do the work for next to nothing for years and outsourcing has been around for years. Now we have illegal labor being imported by the millions adding to the cost of medical and educational expenses while lowering pay rates. While illegal labor do not do their income tax returns each the government pockets their taxes, and for those that would owe more tax, well, that is passed on to the taxpayer. America is a government of the Privatized Banking, for the Privatized Banking, by the Privatized Banking. The New World Order means it is becoming international or world wide. Privatized Banking is the cause of all wars.
Here in the US the people are being poisoned and blasted with EMF pollution. Anyone still eating processed food is literally living in a permanent state of brain fog.
Geoengineering is in the break out phase. I predict the largest class action lawsuit in the history of the country.
The Death Star always the same: it is powered by free money: in the ponzi scheme phase they use $$$$ from flipping worthless junk mortgages rated AAA+ by S&P who they paid to do it. While in the crash they use free QE money printed by our countries' soverign debt to flip commodities and properties to only profit leeches, not investing in business. We need to pull the rims off their Maybach and Nationalize these parasites.
Would be more incline to say do completely away from banking. We do not need money. Its a constraint on humanity anyway you look at. Loss of jobs, increases in population, technological unemployment where automated systems are replacing human being in the work force. We could focus on more important things then mundane jobs..
Can´t personally understand this: QUOTE: "Get the banks working and help the public".....(From David Blanchflower....) is this true? Most of the money has disappeared, it looks like the money printed out by the Bank of England and then provided to these poor banks..... HAS AGAIN VANISHED.....it is really a shame that this can be done without any control-QUANTITIVE EASING.....not a good, safe system in my very modest opinion....FREE WHEELING again in derivatives world!
I used to work in the City, derivatives lawyer, for more than 14 years, I used to sit behind a desk....with 2 computers, phones.....and now I live in Spain, unemployed with no prospect of having a job, never mind a banking job........
What next....
Bwarff! I give up. It's boring. Takes too long to developpe his scenario!
Many people say here put your money "under mattresses", "in a hole", "into a jar" as alternatives to investing in financial markets. Don't label and blame the whole economy of what the banks are doing! Just invest the money you have in a REAL life business, make the money work in the REAL SECTOR, and avoid financial markets. That simple. Manufacturing is what creates the real value in this world, while financial markets create bubbles.
Yes but, that only works if people have the money/desire to buy products and manufacturing is always I repeat always the first to suffer in any economic downturn.
this is all over the world, i think it's funny people talk how they fear when the nwo comes.truth is it's been here and anymore nations are diversity along with race ,creed,and religion.
they call it divide and conquer and the top 1% have been working that little devil for a long time now.
we have a option we need to get together as a world people,stop war and work towards the progression of the human race.and leave the pursuit of monetary gain.we need to kill the bank worldwide and thats the only way it can happen.
You can still live without the current monetary system we have, without banks. Try small community trading system. It's basically a bunch of people trading together with their own different money. Less pollution and packaging waste from transporting goods, and you know the people you buy from. It gives you a feeling you're dealing with people in a world, not in the daily never-changing routine prison. It would be far healthier for both us and the environment to eat locally produced foods, and since food production of the country wouldn't be dependent on a few locations that can be easily targeted by malicious people, nor dependent on few major companies that can alter the food maliciously for their own profit, which all of them have been doing. Boy, it has the potential to solve money, health, society, overworking, and environmental problems.
Centralized production and totalitarian centralized money control have the major weak spot: all you need to do to corrupt them is to get control of the people in charge, and it's been done by lobbyists for decades now, centuries. Monetary crisis is like a cold unpleasant wave you need to stand against, with all your faith and do good and non-violent solutions in that time. If you stay still during that time, the wave will kill you and the rest of us will be easier targets to it because our line falters. This kind of a crisis is no real crisis at all, it will become real only if we let it become such and do nothing. It is not a food crisis where crops fail nor military crisis where stronger country invades you, but a crisis we all have tools to fight against. Unite and use them to the last man standing.
I agree my friend, but look what that got Ghadaffi. He wanted to end the trade of oil for the Dollar and Euro to be only traded in gold. The elite rulers of this world will never allow the sheep to awake. If that were to happened there would be martial law imposed like during the Great Depression. Millions would be murdered and countless other placed in concentration camps like Nazi Germany. Keep the Faith!
Good quality documentarie... Good work keep on...cheers
Watch the first two "Zeitgeist" movies and you'll understand how to change this f...up world.
Freedom FTW!
Make that the entire trilogy ;) The third one really delves into how we can change the system we live under.
Sounds plane and simple to me if you don't like the Banks and the huge bonuses that they pay there people then don't use them.
There are other alternatives to Banks.
Stop using them and then they will have no money to pay big bonuses.
Most sensible comment I've read all day.
I would love to do that. I actually tried. But to make any money or run a business you are forced into using banks. Even government licenses where I am cannot be obtained unless you have given a bank account information.
Not just that...try paying for a house in CASH and you are rejected because it needs to get done through a BANK...they are in too deep.
Here in England we have Building societies and cooperatives
that are like banks but not like banks.
And not all banks are bad just do some reserch i am sure that you can find somewhere better to put your money.
Use a Credit Union instead of bank
It's not so much about the money YOU put in a bank, but rather how GOVERNMENTS support bad decisions made by banks and how they help the banks AT ALL COST - especially at OUR expense. I'm shocked how easy the banks can get FREE financial support from governments without having to do anything in return and without having to change something in this system! As if bank bailout goes without saying! Who are worse: the banks that do THIS or the governments that ALLOW banks do this and easily get away with it!?
Good point..use Credit Unions instead
Here we are having the main stream media smacking people's with a show about how a powerful combination of interests of banks and government stole money from them. Where are the protests? Life is too easy, why fight? as long as the the heat runs in the winter and the market sells cheese doodles...
reminds me of a George Carlin quote:
"Everyone's got a cel phone that makes pancakes so they don't wanna rock the boat. People have been bought off with gizmos and toys." GC
Add (1) dumb entertainment shows on TV and (2) brainwashing news that never cover what is really important.
Every single person with a necktie in this doc makes possibly way way higher salary than 100,000 a year...including Hutton, trustee of British Corp which own newspapers, radio stations....ect.
It is the rich fighting the rich disguising it as outrage trying to protect their comfort zone.
As for the rest of us people many are secretly hoping the bank crashes so their debts dissapear, the rich finally gets to an equal standing, and we can start from scratch all over again!
As for me i have nothing to lose, nothing owed, my S*** fits in my car when i want to change location....and i couldn't care less about the Bank. I agree with Ukphil...dig holes or stuff your mattress...at least real money can be burned when your credit card, your bank card or your bank account get deleted!
az
Life is so cheap to run that life itself dont have value, a.k.a. An american kid does not need to consume 100 crayons a year on average to be happy, and it is not like we are seeing rembrandts popping up at wal mart bathrooms everywhere. It is all about common sense, and it is not being applied to banks nor to the average persons life. The way I see it, this economy of waste turns people into trolls, that wont put up a fight even if a trillion dollars is stollen from them.
You can see it everywhere on the streets: grown men walking around with their pants all the way down to their knees, emulating babies and calling it culture. Grown women dressed as prostitute barbies not knowing that we cant tell if their purse is 20 or 2000 dollars. People are that stupid in the west, but we fail to see it because it is sold as the greatest thing in the whole world.
That is why that those very few that are able to break free, grow up and want more to life than living off a rich country's infrastructure and couchsurfing should be able to be given a more fair chance to make it happen for themselves and not depend on government for their wellfare. But that is hard too, since 1/3 of your profits go to government... at least and for that you have to make every restaurant trip a business write off.
nuff randomness..
Well done!