Common Decency

Clearly the actions of many bankers were completely unacceptable - and in my personal opinion those in positions of power should be prosecuted in a court of law - handing over control of the current banking system to civil servants will not bring about the change that you are searching for. With the current regulatory system and structure of financial markets no matter who is running the banks they will have major incentives to cheat the system. You may feel that morally the UK government should own the banks but legally it simply is not the case, most banks received nowhere near their market value when (or even if) they were bailed out, the government cannot simply seize control. The answer is to take power away from the banks, not to bring them under public ownership, which would cost billions more than has already been spent on bailouts. If the power to create money was taken away from the banks and returned to the Bank of England then it would mean far more investment in the real economy instead of financial markets leading to a more stable and prosperous economy with less frequent crashes.

The fundamental problem is the last Labour government’s policy of encouraging fairy money and the “bubble economy” with its (fleeting) feel good factor that bought Blair his elections. The US bankers that triggered the “sub prime” crisis are still doing well and in control of sinister international manipulators like Bilderberg, who

But there is nothing left to own. All banking could be performed in the cloud now, but what do we do with 300k or so useless bank staff?

Peer lending is established and it works. See zopa.com

The biggest challenge to tackle is fraud and identity theft – and considering probably 75% of all bank fraud is down the insiders, maybe that will improve once the banks are closed.

Not one banker jailed for a scandal we have been forced to accept. But surely this could not have happened without the help of corrupt politicians.

For the life of me, I have never understood why a publicly owned business cannot be just as successful as a private one. Run the same way, it could achieve the same success but, being publicly owned, might just do more of what we need it to do, to contribute to society. For example, amidst all the chaos of the post-Crisis period, how many people noticed that Banks were given the opp to borrow money at very low rates from the BofE, contingent on them lending to small to medium businesses ...... BUT THAT WAS NOT PROPERLY POLICED. So it has indeed been the same old round of the Privileged supporting their own. Such a tragedy, as the financial sector is a vital part of a wider successful economy. Trouble is that, post 1980s, we've become obsessed with money and 'things' & lost sight of how those very narrow aspirations can lead to the Me-centric culture we have now. And I am afraid that this unempathetic approach to life has tainted all of our society, not just the richest. There is a sickness at the core & a sense of entitlement at all levels of society that has got to be dug out. We need to re-learn the value of social cohesion & need to be careful not to vilify any part of society on the basis of subjective viewpoints. But back to Banking. Why no State owned Bank? Could make dosh for the country and adopt more enlightened business methods. Brill !!

Absolutely right. Opposition parties talk about creating 'investment banks' to help small businesses with loans. Wake up! We own one of the (formerly) biggest banks in the country, which should never be put back into private hands. Bankers bonuses should either be capped at £500 to reward the ordinary employees who are doing all the real work of restoring bank reputations, or anything above £500 should be taxed at 70%. Oh! All the top people will go abroad, let them go I say. In any organisation there are always people waiting in the wings, gagging to get a chance at the top job and very often more competent than the current incumbents. It's strange, if they catch the Easter weekend jewel thieves, they'll get 20+ years, not one banker has been prosecuted for any of the disasters which they presided over and they continue to receive massive bonuses.

Thank you for your comments, Please ask your friends and family to comment on their local candidates & vote. https://www.commondecency.org.uk/may-7th-2015/2015-candidates-2

Perhaps this has something to do with the problems that we are now facing.
http://briandeer.com/social/thatcher-society.htm