The banks - short-selling or sold short?

September 29th, 2008

‘It’s the economy stupid’ was the phrase that became famous during Bill Clinton successful campaign to win the presidency at the expense of recession-hit George Bush.

Well, I think you would be forgiven if you struggled to keep apace with the developments of the last few weeks, with the billion dollar buyouts in the US and the loss of Scotland’s oldest bank, leaving the Scottish Government pleading for jobs.

Much of the language used in the last fortnight will be completely new to people and for many, short-selling would be something JJB Sports would do during the summer.

Sadly, we are all now well aware of the consequences the black arts in the financial sector can have on our lives.

But while short-selling has been found to have played its part in the collapse of HBOS, I believe it is just a symptom of the wider malaise.

Rather than short-selling, I think people have been sold short – sold short by the greed that has engulfed our financial sectors.

Right now, it is hard-working people who can’t buy a home, can’t sell their home, have to cope with the rising bills and worry over their pensions and savings.

The only way to avoid a repeat of this banking nightmare is introduce strict regulation measures that will keep the greed in check.

While it may not be what the big banking bosses want, it is what the people want.

So I was heartened that the Prime Minister Gordon Brown set this out as a priority in his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference last week.

For me, the financial institution in this country have had their chance at having a free hand in the markets and summarily failed.

If the banks don’t trust each other with their money at the moment, how can they expect us to trust them with ours?