A special case

If, like me, you find it difficult to get your head around a figure of 6 million pounds, a little surfing on the internet can help. The mansion shown above cost Adele £6million, the sort of figure a banker might expect as just one year's bonus. 

As the average young person struggles to get onto the property ladder, the people who dropped us into this mess are regarded as a special case, not because they are all in it together, but because of threats they will abandon the country that made them rich if they are not allowed to continue in the style to which they have become accustomed. The term 'special case' used to be reserved for those in hardship or deserving of special treatment, rather like the disabled people employed by Remploy who are going to lose not only their jobs but a way of life that gave them some feeling of worth. As a sop, they are promised a bonus - an '£8m fund is being set up to help those affected find alternative employment. That must be a great comfort when the able-bodied cannot find work.

According to a report in today's Independent there is 'Judgement day at last for the bankers'. I very much doubt it but while they are at it, is anyone going to be held to account for the PPI scandal or is that just another special case?  

Bankers

If I had received taxpayers’ money to ensure my survival through a severe financial crisis I would feel duty bound not to reward myself for success in advance of re-paying my debts, with interest, and certainly not if I were still making a loss. Not so Bankers.

They have regularly used other people’s money to line their pockets so manna from heaven is no more than they have come to expect. In their world, deductions precede credits in same day transactions, in advance if a payment is due on a non-working day, while credits have to await clearance for days even in this electronic age, often putting people in the red giving rise to unauthorised overdraft fees out of all proportion to the amount involved.

The Royal Bank of Scotland which is 84% owned by the tax payer has paid over 100 bankers a bonus of £1m or more, a sum more than most people earn in a life time of hard work particularly those caring for others.

To justify their greed Bank chiefs say they have to remain competitive. Not as competitive as the thousands they have put on the dole as they compete with one another for scarce, often low paid jobs to provide any income at all to support their families.

How kind of the Chief Executive of the RBS to waive his £1.6M bonus having to make do on his £1.2m salary. I see that the CEO of another huge loss maker, Lloyd’s Banking Group, is kindly waiving his bonus of £2.3m and the top brass at Barclay’s have given in to pressure to forgo their bonuses while still paying out £2.3bn to their staff.

The “loadsamoney” days of the yuppie were offensive enough; today’s extravagance at other people’s expense is an obscenity too far.