In their eager hunt for scapegoats MPs have been interrogating a gang [what is the correct collective noun for a group of bankers? 'Gang' sounds about right.] of bankers. The bankers unwisely admitted it was a fair cop and said they were sorry. They could have said two other things.
1. They only did what the market demanded. If they had not done some of the things that we are now calling reckless their profits would have suffered and they would have been replaced by people who were willing to do what was required..
2. The MPs had even more cause to say sorry, especially the Labour MPs. There have been plenty of people warning about lose financial regulations, excessive consumer credit and overpriced housing. Why didn’t the Tory MPs ask more questions and make more fuss? More importantly why didn’t the Labour MPs do something to rein in Gordon Browns foolish behavior.
Well we know the answer to that. They wanted to get re-elected. Gordon Brown had a fine old drunken party going. Everybody seemed to be having fun spending borrowed money and the capital gains on their houses. If somebody had turned off the music and sobered up the revellers then they might not have voted Labour at the next election.
The fact is that the people who are to blame for our present hangover are the people who staged the party. Sure, some members of a banker gang got too drunk and behaved badly, but Gordon and his mates did not do anything about them.
Gordon wanted to be Prime Minister and MPs wanted to stay on their gravy train. So, nobody called a halt to the party.
Some of our problems are caused by world events. But not all of them, despite what Gordon tries to claim. If the country’s financial affairs had been managed properly we would have still have suffered, but much less than we are going to thanks to Labour’s wild party.
