spoiled bankers

Last Monday, after the bill was thrown out by the House of Representatives, more than $1 trillion was wiped off the value of US stocks as the market was gripped by panic. The bill was passed on Friday afternoon, however, after the inclusion of $149bn of tax breaks and strict rules for participating banks.

But Wall Street analysts, believe the addition of so many terms to the bill might deter potential participants.
One of the least attractive elements is a section designed to curb executive pay at banks that participate in the bail-out package. These include limiting stock-related pay and banning 'golden parachutes' for executives.

'I think this hodge-podge of regulations and rules will be enough to put many [chief executives] off participating,' Caldwell said.

Come on. Eat up your bailout like a good little boy. Yum.

No. Don’t want bailout.

But darling! You do want your bailout. Remember how you kept asking for it. All last week? All the time?

No! you’ve spoiled it! Bailout smells of wee!

via. At this point, spoiled banker arched his back and slid out of his $5000 aeron pushchair, while screaming himself purple-faced. This is the inherent problem with measures meant to restore confidence to the financial sector. Confidence was part of the original problem.

Meanwhile, over here:

Last night Britain's bank bosses met with chancellor Alistair Darling, to discuss a possible £50bn injection of equity. They are due to meet again at the Treasury this afternoon…

… But it is clear that the bank executives are anxious for the government to press on with any plan to recapitalise the sector and attempt to restore confidence in the high street banks.

Darling disappointed investors when he did not make an announcement during his appearance in parliament yesterday, and analysts have warned that the continued uncertainty is undermining the sector.

"Alistair Darling keeps saying that he won't take a rushed decision. But we need to see decisive action," said Manus Cranny of MF Global Spreads. "We are at a crisis moment."

Well, if the shares go lower the bankers may be a little less inclined to snap their fingers and scweam until they’re sick. There may just be a hint here of responsible parenting. It's not enough just to say you're sorry. You have to be grounded too. And who among us has not dreamed occasionally of infanticide?

Comments

[Fellow Traveller]

Yeah, what ever happened to 'tough love' as an approach. I don't hear the right chorusing about how they need a 'short, sharp shock' to get them back in line.

Bring back National Service and the birch.

[ejh]

It's not necessarily quite the point you're making (although it is, I think, related) but I've felt for some long time that a lot of men with money never grow up. Much more so than men without money, or indeed women with money. And the reason I think this is that they get very, very used to demanding what they want and getting what they want: but a really important component of growing up is realising that you can't necessarily get what you want and that you often shouldn't try.

If you translate that into an ideology which says, essentially, that well-off people being able to get what they want is fundamental to the survival of civilisation and our freedom, then it's not perhaps wholly surprising if, sometimes, the whole world of economic and political comment comes over as no more than a collection of overgrown spoiled brats.

[Phil]

they get very, very used to demanding what they want and getting what they want

I was thinking about this the other day, coincidentally. I happened to think of the pub in the town where I grew up; I've got quite fond memories of the building as a local landmark, but for various reasons I never actually had a drink in there. I fell to wondering (it was a slow day) if it would still be there if I went back - and, if so, if the beer would be any good. And two thoughts struck me in rapid succession - firstly, that I was nursing a daft, infantile fantasy, that if I chanced to go back somewhere I haven't been for 25 years they'd make sure they had some decent beer on for me (or at least that they really ought to); and secondly, that if I was Bono they bloody well would make sure they had some decent beer on for me. Cue thought #3: that being Bono must be a lot like being a baby, forever.