The Le Pens, The French Political Gift that keeps on giving.

[gaelic cowboy]

nope, there is nothing right-wing about encouraging banks to be too big to fail, and then being forced to prop up those banks precisely because they are too big to fail.

There is nothing rightwing about it, but it was an excessive belief in the "freemarkets beauty" which allowed these particular banks to get too big, so the blame is at the door of rightwing financial theory this time.

i don't care about bankers bonuses, they are not (generally) on the public payroll and exist through private means, if they want to be paid in private islands populated by dancing girls that is fine by me. i choose not to work as hard as they do, and as such i do not expect the same rewward.

They may not be on the public payroll theoretically but they benefiting from the governments investment in the public. Most western nations far as I can tell invest in things like education, healthcare and law and order etc this creates a society where a large scale financial business can operate safely. Shareholders who are the most mobile stakeholder of a bank seem to have no problem with bankers pay likely cos it encourages high share prices which benefits them.

We know short term thinking allied with complete ignorance of the financial products bankers were selling was at the heart of this last crisis therefore pay needs reforming. The bonus culture of the banks in a so called free banking market leads one to the conclusion they are somehow protecting entry to the financial market.

Seeing as rampant financialism was at the heart of this crisis we need to do one of two things. We either enable easier entry to the market for banks or we restrict there ability to gorge themselves on credit and pay.

[Furunculus]

There is nothing rightwing about it, but it was an excessive belief in the "freemarkets beauty" which allowed these particular banks to get too big, so the blame is at the door of rightwing financial theory this time.

They may not be on the public payroll theoretically but they benefiting from the governments investment in the public. Most western nations far as I can tell invest in things like education, healthcare and law and order etc this creates a society where a large scale financial business can operate safely. Shareholders who are the most mobile stakeholder of a bank seem to have no problem with bankers pay likely cos it encourages high share prices which benefits them.
We know short term thinking allied with complete ignorance of the financial products bankers were selling was at the heart of this last crisis therefore pay needs reforming. The bonus culture of the banks in a so called free banking market leads one to the conclusion they are somehow protecting entry to the financial market.
Seeing as rampant financialism was at the heart of this crisis we need to do one of two things. We either enable easier entry to the market for banks or we restrict there ability to gorge themselves on credit and pay.

in my opinion the problem of banks being too big to fail was the result of poor regulation and not a lack of regulation, but i can appreciate how the mud would stick.

likewise, i accept that the current bonus system did encourage short-termism that was bad for both the bank and the wider economy, and i am happy to see it reformed, i just reject the emotional diarrhoea of 'fairness' that justifies the removal of bonuses for moral reasons. the they-have-too-much-money brigade need to taken round the back of the shed and quietly shot.