'Should we nationalise the banks?' poll discussion

Mary_Hartnell

We cannot nationalise the banks.
If we did all those dodgy liabilities hidden on their balance sheets would appear on our national accounts.
Then even more foreign investors would start questioning the UK's credit rating, and we would all have to pay higher interest rates or have our currency devalued even further.
I seem to remember that one of the major problems in rich Japan, was that the government did not have the guts to close down their most failed banks and companies involved in the "non performing" loans.
If we make our banks branches of the Bank of England, and then defaulted; the UK would be taking advice from Argentina.
We would then all join the "SKIing" pensioners in queer street.

Guanajuato

By nationalising the banks the taxpayer has an interest in, the decision-making will be (at least in part) taken away from those people who have proved they are incapable of making decisions for the good of their customers.

TonghamYorky

We can't let the banks or the banking system fail no matter how much some of us would like to see it happen. I would prefer to see the big guys who got us into this mess given a massive kick in the groin and forced to pay back their bonuses say for the last 5 years, repro their houses if need be!! If criminal activity is proved sling them in HMP Dartmoor for ten years with
no early get out clause.

I'd be ok with a limited nationalization i.e the banks the government has bailed out are nationalised for a set period of time, say five years max. If the situation improves then the time period could be reduced. Set up much tighter regulation and have the regulator inspect the banks much like Ofstead does for schools. Oh and make it mandatory that the chief reguator is not a former employee or connected in any way to the banks other than a pesonnal bank account.

Regarding pay for executives and ordinary staff. I would allow bonuses for ALL staff who reach or exceed their targets, however executives bonuses must be capped at £250k, worked out over each quarter and paid once yearly at the end of the last quarter, so if they for instance had a poor 2nd quarter they would not acheive the maximum bonus.

mcgazz

The Government's two main concerns with any bank it intervenes in should be:
(a) the money that the public have deposted in that bank
(b) the jobs of that bank's staff (for every City joker there are plenty of tellers, branch managers, etc, who aren't to blame for the dodgy goings-on)

As for shareholders - "the value of investments may go down as well as up". They were happy enough with this when they were making a killing, so the same rules should apply now.

(I voted C).

dijit

Guanajuato wrote: »

By nationalising the banks the taxpayer has an interest in, the decision-making will be (at least in part) taken away from those people who have proved they are incapable of making decisions for the good of their customers.

Knee jerk reaction almost made me agree with you.

Then I stopped to think, and the only people I can imagine being LESS competent than those greedy bankers, would be vote hungry politicians.:eek:

Experience leads me to conclude that the sure fire way to sink our banking institutions would be to have Gordon Brown lurching from crisis to disaster, which is after all what he is best at.

PhiltheBear

The problem is simply solved. And it's this - introduce legislation which stops the banks paying any dividend to shareholders for a year (renewable at the discretion of the Treasury). Make the banks use that dividend money available as loans. If they don't, nationalise without compensation. It's draconian - but it would concentrate the banks' minds to solving the problem.

Ignore Brown's stupid "I'm angry" at the RBS takeover of ABN. He wasn't angry when it happened because it meant that RBS would be paying more tax. He's only angry now because it's politically convenient. In the same way it was politically convenient to shore up Northern Rock - simply because they are headquartered in a Labour heartland and it would have been the kiss of death electorally to have had huge job losses. Most banks aren't headquartered in such places so Brown and Darling can rave on all they like about 'rich bankers'. The big problem is that London' s credibility as a Financial Centre is being threatened - not by the banks - but by political meddling from a Government whose only fiscal policy is to borrow.

Rod_Smith

Yes!

The banks got us into this mess through a mixture of greed and incompetence. Far from helping us all get out of the mess they are actively hindering government attempts to revive the economy. If they won't cooperate then force them by taking them over.

Back in the 1970's Rolls Royce went bust. The Government bought the company for £1, then used taxpayers money to rebuild the company. When it was back on it's feet it was sold back to the private sector, so at least our money was put to good use rather than being paid out in bonuses. The Government which did this was a Tory government, and the Prime Minister at the time was Ted Heath.

I suggest this would be a good way of dealing with the banks.

orcadian

A PPP (formerly called PFI) is the way to go for infrastructure projects which undo the recession and create jobs (new schools, hospitals, Forth Road bridge, etc) but hugely expensive due to the banks' profits on it. So (1) nationalise the banks we're taking a stake in (2) set up PPPs through the nationalised banks (3) after nationalisation all profits from PPPs must be handed back to the Treasury. Outcome: new jobs, new infrastructure, all at fair prices.

Bella85_2

I voted A because i feel the government have used enough of tax payers money already and i feel this wont be the last time they put more of our money in. Its totally unfair as we have to struggle with very little help. If banks are struggling let them because more bail outs may not actually help.

liberty1264

I seem to remember that the labour party something called clause 4 in their manifesto I.e. the control of finance . production & distribution, it seems that they are about to achieve the control of finance, how long before they take over all failing businesses and control production shortly followed by distribution. be very careful ot they will achieve their aim of a communist state after all.