Wednesday 4 July 2012

Beware of bankers bearing burdens

Some have believed that the Soviet Union and satellite states were eventually beaten by banks and not tanks.  At one time Mrs Thatcher had real fears that Soviet tanks could crush us and that there were reds under the beds in waiting to topple and take over this country.  Mrs Thatcher feared Russian tanks.

The reality was that the Russian economy was in a mess and  that Russian tanks posed no real threat to the UK.  It was unlikely that the Russian forces had the resources and support structure to cross France and enter the UK, and then maintain their army so far away from the Soviet Union. NATO would have stopped them and the internal Russian  leadership could not have coped with the costs, deployment and supply chain  arrangements.

The Russian economy was in dire straits, and money was not available to spend on the army, particularly after the Afghan and Chechen wars.

Left wing activists had advocated the nationalization of the banks.  Today we have a partial nationalization of banks in that the tax payers have, in effect, bailed out and kept certain banks solvent.    Blame has been attached to bankers for many of our economic woes.  Recently unethical activity has been exposed. Bankers are now bearing the brunt of much criticism. Greed and dishonesty have been evident to all of us.  Dirty and dark secrets are coming to light.  Bankers burdened us with debts and destructive high interest rates.  Old people who suffered from lapses of memory and had missed a credit card deadline were charged a harsh and extortionate late payment fee, which sometimes doubled the cost of just one transaction. (My very elderly mother paid, by credit card, for a family which cost her about £18, some years ago. She missed the payment deadline by a day or two, certainly less than a week.  The bank charged her a late payment fee of £20, so the meal cost her £38. Daylight robbery?)

We were told that these bankers needed to be paid huge bonuses because we needed their expertise, and if we did not pay them these large salaries then they were likely to leave the country and damage our economy.

Now please correct me if I am wrong, but was it not some of these high earning bankers who were in many ways primarily responsible for our economic problems? Yes, I have heard that profligate politicians and high spending Government officials, following instructions from their ministers, were culpable of serious overspending and causing enormous debts.  The national debt is a heavy burden on us, and on our children and on future generations.  The bankers have burdened us with a costly catastrophe, or something seriously close to one.  It is a catastrophe for those without work, without money, without the prospect of a decent future or a well earned retirement.  Pension funds have been robbed by bad bankers and financial gangsters.  We are still paying for their failures.  They are still laughing all the way to the bank; they are still receiving large salaries and sums.  They are managing to maintain and make marvellous money, and then manipulate the market so they get massive pay-outs and pay-offs, sometimes for failure, fiascos and fraud.

Woe to these greedy and morally bankrupt bankers.
Woe to those who rob to get richer and richer.
Woe to those who grab and gain dishonestly.
Woe to those who serve mammon and devour the poor, the weak and the needy.
They will incur the righteous judgement of God; in this life and in the life to come will they be punished.
They will have no peace or joy eternal, unless they repent and show the fruits of repentance.

Woe to those who are at ease in the City and trust in their own ill gotten gains.

 There is a famine in the City, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

1 comment:

Johli Baptist said...

I was at a prayer meeting yesterday at the Emmanuel Church Centre in Marsham Street, where folk were blessing the bankers as those who had persecuted us. And we are told to bless those who persecute us! Food for thought and prayer. Life is fragile - handle with prayer!

Dedham

Dedham
River Stour