No Shame

I have recently been reading a very interesting book about the background to the economic catastrophe we are in the midst of, the full consequences of which are yet to be felt. The book is Whoops! by John Lanchester, it’s easy to read and gives easy to understand explanations of the mysterious bank products (or shenanigans) such as Credit Default Swaps and Options which would have led to their downfall had we not bailed them out. Thanks to the generosity of the taxpayer the bankers can keep on doing what they do best and that’s making themselves rich. I recommend the book.
One passage in the book caught my attention and that was the reaction of an Icelandic student who was stranded in the UK because her Icelandic bank had literally run out of money and the ATM refused her request for cash even though she was in credit. The outcome was that she was unable to complete her education in the UK and is now unemployed in Iceland her career hopes in ruins. Her comment was: “What angers me most about our former government here (Iceland) is that they didn’t have the decency to be ashamed”
I’ll think of that every time I see Messrs.’ Miliband and Balls pontificating on what’s best for the economy. After ten years in government and the biggest credit boom and bust in history these guys who were so fast asleep at the wheel that unlike every sensible man in the street they couldn’t foresee the financial tsunami that had to happen, instead they were out there not saving for a rainy day but spending in a fashion not seen since Viv Nicholsonson won the pools. Now they have the audacity to tell us how to put the economy to rights. These people are useless.
The irony of this tale of woe is that the people that voted for them in the first place are going to be the very ones that get hurt the most: the ordinary working family, the lower paid, the public employee and the sick and unemployed. But the greatest irony yet to come is that these are the very people who could easily vote them back into government when they feel the unavoidable financial pain dished out by the Tory’s and the men in yellow ties. , ‘there's nowt so queer as folk.’