THE BANKERS CAP

The Bankers Cap
Here is a scenario to ponder. It is 2001, Labour is concerned by excessive bonuses being provided to bankers and the development of a casino culture amongst banks like Lloyds TSB, and RBS. It consequently introduces a cap on bonuses and much more stringent controls on the City of London. Both moves incidentally rounded condemned by the Tories and their spokesman George Osborne as being “an attack on the wealth creators.”
As a result of these measures there is an exodus of the ‘go-getters’ and risk takers such Fred Goodwin and Bob Diamond to places like the US and Singapore. The British banking scene becomes much duller, more conservative and slightly more risk averse. In 2008 there is a major banking crises across much of the capitalist world as a consequence of the reckless behaviour of the banking industry. The much more tightly controlled British banks remain unaffected and though Britain is affected by developments overseas it’s banking industry requires no bail outs and its financial services are better placed to weather the storm.  


Just an imagined scenario you understand. Could never have happened, both Blair and Brown were too blinded by the light coming from the City of London. Still it is worth thinking about when you here David Cameron and Boris Johnson intoning that a cap on bankers bonuses will seriously undermine our financial well being. 


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