The Government's policy on the banks is incoherent. It is desperately
trying to avoid calling what has happened by its true name:
nationalisation. We in the Green Party believe that the banks that are
owned or part-owned by us, the public -- this nation -- ought to be
controlled accordingly. 'No taxation without representation' ought to
be the motto: Our tax-money has baled out these institutions; the least
that we should ask in return is for our needs and values directly to
guide their lending policies.
It is time that the Government started to take a serious role in
controlling the banks that it owns. It is quite absurd -- it is a grave
danger to the prospects of stabilising our economy and avoiding
Depression -- to have some banks hoarding money and refusing to lend and
profiteering through maintaining high interest rates, even after the
Bank of England has cut its rate by such an unprecedented amount. LIBOR
trying to avoid calling what has happened by its true name:
nationalisation. We in the Green Party believe that the banks that are
owned or part-owned by us, the public -- this nation -- ought to be
controlled accordingly. 'No taxation without representation' ought to
be the motto: Our tax-money has baled out these institutions; the least
that we should ask in return is for our needs and values directly to
guide their lending policies.
It is time that the Government started to take a serious role in
controlling the banks that it owns. It is quite absurd -- it is a grave
danger to the prospects of stabilising our economy and avoiding
Depression -- to have some banks hoarding money and refusing to lend and
profiteering through maintaining high interest rates, even after the
Bank of England has cut its rate by such an unprecedented amount. LIBOR
should come down - the Government should make it so.
Now, it is true that the banks ought not to be lending money lightly to bad credit risks --
that, after all, is what got us into this trouble in the first place.
But when they do lend, they ought to lend at low interest, to
facilitate economic activity that can prevent a Depression. It is way
past time now for the Government simply and legally to _insist_ that the banks that it funds
should do this: if they expect to continue to receive any Government
support.
Now, it is true that the banks ought not to be lending money lightly to bad credit risks --
that, after all, is what got us into this trouble in the first place.
But when they do lend, they ought to lend at low interest, to
facilitate economic activity that can prevent a Depression. It is way
past time now for the Government simply and legally to _insist_ that the banks that it funds
should do this: if they expect to continue to receive any Government
support.
Comments
Yes, the banks all deserve a good kicking, but lets not imagine that state-controlled banking is a viable long term solution. Time and again political pressure to lend according to political objectives has landed state banks with mountains of bad debt.