Abstract

November 2009 business at last starts to pick up. So the impetus to reach It’s taxpayers’ money, stupid! agreement on a matter that causes as much pain as sharply increased capital requirements may slacken somewhat well “We can’t continue with a regime where, to put it before 2012. Unless of course we have another crisis in the crudely, the downside is picked up by the taxpayer and meantime. The ongoing, overblown rhetoric about bonuses the upside is picked up by bank shareholders and execu- seems to satisfy pubic demand that “something is done” and tives.”1 give the politicians a nice, familiar bone (envy) to gnaw on. “The Treasury is convinced that banks are hoarding funds But one wonders if anyone is really fooled by the idea that that should be used to help business to grow instead of “clamping down” on the “bonus culture” (why not the extending loans. It is also worried that the lenders are “performance-related pay culture”?) will make the slightest deliberately pricing loans at artificially high levels to sup- bit of difference as regards the risk of a crisis re-run. press lending.”2 Of more immediate interest is the possibility of sales of government holdings in