Britain tops bank bail-outs with nearly 20% of GDP (The Guardian)

Cannon_Fodder

Oh, and ignore the troll.

econo_2

No doubt all these banking bailouts will still have been deemed necessary by most of our ignorant public. 'Necessary to instill confidence in the banking system!' is the cry.
What about confidence in UK ltd as it eventually bankrupts the whole nation?

Nearly all should have been allowed to fail and those left would have filled the gaps.

They will look back on this as the greatest disaster in this countries history unless of course the politicians manage do the editing first.

chucky

Wookster wrote: »

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/07/uk-bank-bailouts



(the article continues)

I guess this is a direct result of "light touch" regulation.

not the best news and not good long term.
the bank bail outs are not 'lost' cash by the way - it will be repaid and the banks are paying a decent fee and interest on them.

i'd rather be in Britain than Germany or France who will probably have to bail out the rest of the EU.

mewbie_2

chucky wrote: »

i'd rather be in Britain than Germany or France who will probably have to bail out the rest of the EU.

That is a good point. Imagine our resentment if we had to bail out Spain, Ireland, Italy, etc. It's bad enough giving someone a fiver a week disability benefit.

theGrinch

some would call it "light touch" regulation, and others would call it a complete failure of duty by the Bank of England, SFA, Treasury and Government.

Its all good and well the treasury select committee showing teeth now, but where were they before? Mr McFall has been chair since 2001! The buck passing and smoke screens must stop if we are to get out of this

Rochdale_Pioneers

Does anyone have the table of how much other countries have spent so far? Clearly what we've had spend isn't at all good.

But 20% on top of the 44% where we started gets us to 64%. Thats where Germany started - how much have they spent? And these figures are just up front costs and don't count what support will be given down the line.

According to the Mail's report on this IMF statement, "However, a broader IMF measure of banking liabilities suggests other countries' bailouts could ultimately consume-a larger share of GDP. Among 29 countries, the overall burden of banking support is highest in Ireland, at 263 per cent of GDP, followed by the US at 73.7 per cent, Sweden at 70 per cent and then the UK at 47.5 per cent."

So it looks bad now. But according to the IMF we're going to get off lightly once it all shakes out. 20% now sounds bad - even though it puts our debt not up beyond levels that France and Germany have sustained for years. And I'd rather have our 47% than Ireland's 2634%. We have a big economy - how will Ireland cope?

Redfish_2

brightonman123 wrote: »

is there a list of what %age bankj shares we own now? as govt has 65% of Looyds, about time they forced them to match rate cuts, and ease mortgage suffering at least..

extra spare income for joe bloggs will hopefully then get back into the high street..

Well Mortgage Express say that the government owns 100% of their shares, and they haven't matched the rate cuts either...totally agree with you that the intention was that the money would eventually get back into the high street...maybe it's ending up in big bonuses instead...

Generali

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

Does anyone have the table of how much other countries have spent so far? Clearly what we've had spend isn't at all good.

But 20% on top of the 44% where we started gets us to 64%. Thats where Germany started - how much have they spent? And these figures are just up front costs and don't count what support will be given down the line.

According to the Mail's report on this IMF statement, "However, a broader IMF measure of banking liabilities suggests other countries' bailouts could ultimately consume-a larger share of GDP. Among 29 countries, the overall burden of banking support is highest in Ireland, at 263 per cent of GDP, followed by the US at 73.7 per cent, Sweden at 70 per cent and then the UK at 47.5 per cent."

So it looks bad now. But according to the IMF we're going to get off lightly once it all shakes out. 20% now sounds bad - even though it puts our debt not up beyond levels that France and Germany have sustained for years. And I'd rather have our 47% than Ireland's 2634%. We have a big economy - how will Ireland cope?

Ireland looks a lot like it's bankrupt to me, if it's going to bail out the banks and attempt to maintain Government spending at anything like the current level.

I'm not sure it's a great way to approach public policy by saying, "Well things may be bad but look how bad they are in Ireland".

As much as anything else, the impact of the UK having any sort of funding difficulty on the rest of the world would be far greater than Ireland going bust (sorry to any Irish people reading this but Ireland just isn't that important globally).

Rochdale_Pioneers

Generali wrote: »

I'm not sure it's a great way to approach public policy by saying, "Well things may be bad but look how bad they are in Ireland"..

OK then, use America instead. Its fine I take it for the knockers to take headlines like this to compare the UK in a negative light compared to the rest of the world? Why isn't it alright for me to the same in reverse?

I've said all along that we will come out of this in a stronger comparitive position vs our competitors. This is yet another piece of evidence indicating that I may well be right.

chucky

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

OK then, use America instead. Its fine I take it for the knockers to take headlines like this to compare the UK in a negative light compared to the rest of the world? Why isn't it alright for me to the same in reverse?

I've said all along that we will come out of this in a stronger comparitive position vs our competitors. This is yet another piece of evidence indicating that I may well be right.

Everywhere has the problem - long term the government may have prepared us better but there is no point in knocking the government. We all have the problem be it Labour or Copnservatives in power.

The UK is in a much better position - imagine the deficits the people of Germany or France are going to have to fund to bail out Ireland, Spain, Greece or any of the Eastern European states.

In addition the EU reaction to the economic climate has been very slow - I think they are reacting too late and will have to throw even more cash than the UK at the problem; which can only mean we will come out of it in a stronger postion when you compare.