大象传媒

Dear Newsnight

Mr Darling has guaranteed that savers will lose nothing and Northern Rock is viable, thats good enough for me.

Commentators might consider what words they use, ie contagion, bank run (even if they say Northern Rock is safe) causes fear

In fact if I had a bean I would be buying their shares, joked yesterday whether it might be possible to borrow money from them to buy their shares (and repay with a huge profit in a weeks time)

Seems like ordinary people will lose with this, cashing in savings when they shouldnt, selling shares when it would be better not to,

Bob

Hello

Surely the point is - it is becoming obvious no-one trusts the system any more! They want their hard earned, money where they can see it in a safe place! Even democracy itself seems to be a complete fraud these days, based as it is, on a few votes in marginal seats, not on what the majority of people want or think!

This sham of economic and political power, which results in some kind of elected dictatorship, protected by ever repressive centralised state, is at the root of popular mistrust of banks, politicians and, I am sorry to say, the media.

I am not an economist, but didn't Gordon Brown selling off all the gold reserves at a knock down price, to build his war chests up, have some effect on the strength of our economy? What bolsters it up now then? Alistair Darling's promises? We have learnt not to trust parliament, all parties included, since the WMD lies of Tony Blair and a long terrible war in Iraq, which we marched against in our millions.

Surely we are back to that old story of the Emprorer with no clothes on? The banking system with no captal left, has been taking our money for years, under the pretext of "looking after it"! Now people are beginning to twig. I wonder just how much access to info across the net has helped us realise what a bunch of charlatans, (at best) and gangsters (at worst) are in charge of our financial security as well as our global futures as a whole?

What goes around comes around. Where will it all end - in tears somewhere thats for sure!

Now that the Govt has guaranteed the savings of Northern Rock, the question is, why didn't they do this earlier? Noting that the market value of Alliance & Leicester has dropped 32% in one day, the question is, what do the institutional investors (banks etc) know that joe public shareholders do not know? The value of being forewarned seems evident. Finally, the question of the day is this: the public STILL does not trust the Banks or Govt for that matter, despite Darling's guarantee. There is something rotten at the core of regulation of banking and the financial services sector. Smells like regulatory capture, with the interests of banks taking precedence over the public interest.

TRUST in ME said the SNAKE. its a Jungle out there. Yes We have no/are Bananas. Yes Saddam has W.M.D. There are No muslim terrorists. Crime is Down. We are tough on Crime tough on the Causes of Crime. There are No Mad Cow's. There is No Feet in the Gob. Our Index linked pensions are Not Safe. Your Pension is Very Safe and Sound in our Hands. The NHS is the Best it has Ever Been, no one dies from superbugs. Things can only get Better. Our Schools are the best in the world. Our Armed Service Persons are treated wonderfully, The Covenant has Not been Broken. Flush gordon was voted in as pm by everyone in the country, He Loves M Thatcher, He has never heard of uncle joe. The Speaker of the house of commons is the bravest of the Brave. John Pestcot was worth every penny and has a full command of the english langauge, All Merchant Navy Persons past and Present love him. Mandy is a fighter not a Quitter. Kinnock is not a hypocritter. Our Ministers Resign IF?/when they Fail. John Reid was allways fit for purpose. Tony has never Lied. Politicians dont lie when their lips move. Politicians Do Not Permantly wear the Order of the Rusty Sherriffs Badge over their heads. There are Not one hundred times the amount of spin doctors since John Majors Time. Have I got a month or ten to keep going? NO. Is Floyds Pig on the Loose. Am I off to the Moon with Wallace and Gromit for SUM Cheese I do hope so TOM is another day. There could be Trouble Ahead NKC

it is clear the public do not understand the markets so it is no good explaining anything to them or worrying them with more 'information' when the best policy would have been to give no information in the first place about the NR going to the BOE.

Instead we should, say, have a rerun of Wind in the Willows and send them off to bed with 'Row row row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream'.

Excuse Me did the darling say IF? and When?. Or We Have and Now?.
TRUST IN ME said the Snake.
Its a Jungle oot there.

The markets were originally designed to allow companies to raise capital for exploration, expansion, product development and general economic growth. Today, markets are far more sophisticated, having been turned into a gamblers den, in which one investors gain is another's loss.

How many markets rely upon underlying factors such as interest rates, currency rates, commodity prices and other data to generate margins and losses? London is the global centre for futures and other derivative markets which trade instruments which are legal contracts, designed by lawyers and accountants from within the bunkers of the banking and financial services sector. Rather than keep people in the dark, the role of protecting the public interest should start with public education, disclosure, transparency and fairness, thus allowing the beneficial owners of capital to fully understand the nature of risks and rewards associated with gambling.

The UK remains a country which locks up petty debtors, petty social benefit fraudsters and shoplifters. When did we last see the CEO or invesment fund manager of a fund that negligently robbed tens of thousands of people of their life savings being put to prison. Has anyboy been jailed for Farepak yet? I doubt it. No doubt, the "keeping them in the dark" approach will keep many white collar criminals on the streets for generations to come, after all, surely no CPS would take a case to court that would be above the ability of a 12 man jury to comprehend. Good post from sheila.

The markets were originally designed to allow companies to raise capital for exploration, expansion, product development and general economic growth. Today, markets are far more sophisticated, having been turned into a gamblers den, in which one investors gain is another's loss.

How many markets rely upon underlying factors such as interest rates, currency rates, commodity prices and other data to generate margins and losses? London is the global centre for futures and other derivative markets which trade instruments which are legal contracts, designed by lawyers and accountants from within the bunkers of the banking and financial services sector. Rather than keep people in the dark, the role of protecting the public interest should start with public education, disclosure, transparency and fairness, thus allowing the beneficial owners of capital to fully understand the nature of risks and rewards associated with gambling.

The UK remains a country which locks up petty debtors, petty social benefit fraudsters and shoplifters. When did we last see the CEO or invesment fund manager of a fund that negligently robbed tens of thousands of people of their life savings being put to prison. Has anyboy been jailed for Farepak yet? I doubt it. No doubt, the "keeping them in the dark" approach will keep many white criminals on the streets for generations to come, after all, surely no CPS would take a case to court that would be above the ability of a 12 man jury to comprehend. Good post from sheila.

Nothing much more to add than a previous blog on this I made after Friday's programme.
At least the media has had a field-day scaring the pants off a public (and Banks) that has been weaned on spending and lending money that they did not have.
"Crisis what crisis", (a saying that Callaghan did not make-that was a media headline)well we have now been told our money is safe so all you Jonah's above can move on to scaring the pants of Alliance & Leicester savers.
We could always go back to the gold standard but am I right in recalling Brown flogged most of this off at a knock-down price some years ago.
So we will now have Libdems and Tories making cheap capital out of it, Cameron forgetting that it was his party that set the whole credit and mortgage (house owning) society off in the first place a man who was in the Tories on Black Wednesday.

As I wrote previously chickens and roosts and pot & kettle come to mind.
"Banks are built on confidence" so Phil Hammond said, another Tory Running dog. There won't be much of that left if he and his party get their way in an effort to get elected nor will the public feel safe whilst the media continue yet another swipe at the Government.
Queues ouside banks make good stories.

Can anyone advise me the difference between those who put money into Northern Rock and those who did the same in Equitable Life? Why, also, is there an immediate rescue plan for NR and still none for Equitable?

The markets were originally designed to allow companies to raise capital for exploration, expansion, product development and general economic growth. Today, markets are far more sophisticated, having been turned into a gamblers den, in which one investors gain is another's loss.

How many markets rely upon underlying factors such as interest rates, currency rates, commodity prices and other data to generate margins and losses? London is the global centre for futures and other derivative markets which trade instruments which are legal contracts, designed by lawyers and accountants from within the bunkers of the banking and financial services sector. Rather than keep people in the dark, the role of protecting the public interest should start with public education, disclosure, transparency and fairness, thus allowing the beneficial owners of capital to fully understand the nature of risks and rewards associated with gambling.

The UK remains a country which locks up petty debtors, petty social benefit fraudsters and shoplifters. When did we last see the CEO or invesment fund manager of a fund that negligently robbed tens of thousands of people of their life savings being put to prison. Has anyboy been jailed for Farepak yet? I doubt it. No doubt, the "keeping them in the dark" approach will keep many white collar criminals on the streets for generations to come, after all, surely no CPS would take a case to court that would be above the ability of a 12 man jury to comprehend. Good post from sheila.

Gavin Esler seemed to suggest that deposits with Northern Rock were 'as safe as the Bank of England' and that we should place money there rather than buy government bonds. Phil Hammond did not disagree. However, careful reading of Chancellor Darling's statement says that only EXISTING depositors are guaranteed. I for one will not be rushing to open an account!

Just to re-interate. YES - Golden Boy Gordon, son of the Manse, sold off our gold reserves at a a knock down price! Why should anyone have any faith in his financial judgement? He is not even elected, not that elections mean anything in the UK, rather like the empty phrase "strong economy".

The public may be slow to catch on but most of us are too busy, trying to work as fast as computers to even think about what is really going on! Common Sense does prevail sometimes though, and if I had money in Northern Rock, I would take my money out ASAP, like the good people of the UK are doing - voting with their feet!

The fact which seems to be missed is that Northern Rock is an erstwhile building society which has found to its cost that it cannot run with the fox and the hare. Ironically I learn this morning that investments in traditional building societies are up substantially.

Shella wrote:

"Just to re-interate. YES - Golden Boy Gordon, son of the Manse, sold off our gold reserves at a a knock down price! Why should anyone have any faith in his financial judgement?"

The monthly polling evidence on this is mixed, as recorded, for instance, by
some recent trends agree with you on this, some don't.

"He is not even elected, not that elections mean anything in the UK, rather like the empty phrase "strong economy"."

Erm, I think you'll find Mr Brown IS elected, just not (yet) as Prime Minister. If you want to vote him out at the next election, feel free to live in his constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. I doubt you will, though.

Sir, Of course our money is safe. So were WMD, 45 minute warnings, Equitable Life, pension underwrites, etc. The Frank Capra classic said it all, Alistair Darling is Uncle Charlie who loses the kitty, and Brown is Potter who gets it wrong but never leaves his fingerprints. You really couldn't make it up. Steve

When this started happening I re-read "The Coming First World Debt Crisis" by Ann Pettifor - it explains the current financial system in easy to understand language but the problem is that you then realise how ridiculous it is. The rest of the world has got to re-consider the dollar as the reserve currency. Why should the US be allowed to run up such imbalances waging wars no one wants and then paying off debts just by printing their own money?
Iran and Venezuela are not repatriating their oil money in the US financial system, Iran is even selling oil in other currencies. Iraq was selling oil in Euros and making lots of currency gains. What countries is it that the US keep demonising again? Could there be a connection?
Please read the book and start thinking about what is really going on.