Time for Some Robust Quantitative Redacting?

Smoke and Mirrors from a Grubby Banker

If history is to judge recent crises it could well be via the "buzz-words" they spat out.

Those of you who have read or seen The Wizard of Oz may not know that the book is in fact a kind of treatise on money in America in the early 20th Century, the yellow brick road being the 'Gold Standard' and the Wizard of Oz himself a top banker - a grubby little man using smoke and mirrors to keep us (munchkins) in fear of his might.

Well, if one inspects the recent national crises you can find specific buzz-words which, I believe, are chosen to try and frighten the meek, gullible or easy-going into silence. A kind of "let the experts deal with that" outlook, which can be particularly tempting when most of us have our time taken up worrying about earning enough money to pay the bills.

Now for the fun part. Here are the buzz-words that stick out for me. I'd love to hear of others, if you have examples, old or new, from the UK or overseas.

• MPs' Expenses Scandal: REDACTED.
• Banking Crisis:  QUANTITATIVE EASING.
• Riots in England: ROBUST (policing/sentencing).

I'd love to hear your examples. Off the top of my head I couldn't think of one for the Murdoch-media phone-hacking scandal.... but there must be an example surely?

Why Do Banks Feel Seedy to me? It all Makes Sense!

Even divorce gets a feel-good factor

I find banks particularly soulless places. The staff can be pleasant enough and of the many local banks I've been in, I've always got on with the staff - getting to know some of them quite well.

Yet I still find the places themselves quite morale-sapping. Is it the strip-lighting? The colour schemes? The long queues? The smiley faces on the leaflets/posters?

The other week I found myself in my local Nat West and whilst the teller went off to get some paperwork signed by the management I looked around the branch. I could feel myself getting more and more pallid by the second and so, to ease the boredom and to try and take my mind off the surroundings I picked up their in-house magazine (Nat West Sense).

The issue was full of financial advice, flashy foreign holidays, celebs and more. All very glossy. I guess it's nice to know people's mortgage extortions are spent (when not on bankers' bonuses!). Now, these mags are usually extremely cheesy. Lots of glitz, lots of glamour. Smiling families pictured in articles about mortgages and loans. There's not usually room for repossessions, businesses gone bust, corruption in government or the more "negative" side of things.

Yet there is something about the glossy, smiley, mags. They are just so glossy, so smiley that it's like being force fed sugar cubes. They might taste kind-of nice to start with, but you know they won't do you any good, and you start to feel sick quite quickly. It's like when you go into a strange city and find yourself in the seedy part of town. All the neon lights may look "nice" but you know that behind the scenes it is all seedy, there is a grubbiness hidden away so as not to frighten the tourists.

I think this is how I feel about the banks when I walk into them. The smiles, the lighting, the colour schemes. There is something seedy and dirty about the gaudy advertising and colour schemes. The posters boast of the 3% their top-paying accounts will give, whilst their credit cards charge 30%. Their loan posters show smiling families, new cars, fancy goods - but rarely the misery and depravation caused by debt.

Kate Winslet is on the front of their glossy mag. I wonder if Nat West customers would prefer fewer bank charges and no magazine at all! Aside from the very ocassional terminally bored customer who puts it back after a few minutes and the staff who are pressurised to read it - I wonder how many customers actually bother. All the hours I've spent in-branch over the last few months I have never seen anyone else go near a copy!

The Robin Hood Tax Video

I have to say, Bill Nighy is one of my favourite actors.

Give me 38 Grand and I'll Happily Spend It

The Irish government has bailed out the banks, again.

It's getting a bit repetitive isn't it?

38K Euros per head of population to the banks? Wouldn't it kick start the Irish economy more if they gave 38K to each Irish man and woman?

They would:

• Spend it. Businesses would get an income and then bank it; or
• Just bank it.

The people would get a lift, businesses would potentially benefit, and either way the banks would get the money anyway.

In fact, why not just issue the 38K per person as vouchers that must be spent with Irish businesses, rates etc. and that could only be banked in the problem banks.

Then you would guarantee the banks in trouble would get help, and you would help the 'normal' folks.

Too much common sense?


Probably.

Common sense doesn't seem to register in these days when the Emperor is just so very naked.