UNISONActive is an unofficial blog produced by UNISON activists for UNISON activists. Bringing news, briefings and events from a progressive left perspective.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

The Governor Tells The Truth - Banks Are To Blame - But We Take The Pain

Finally the truth is out and straight out of the horses mouth, the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King... the man meant to be in charge of the UK economy! "The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it, now is the period when the cost is being paid, I'm surprised that the degree of public anger has not been greater than it has."

If there is a greater reason for getting our marching boots on ready for the 26th of March demonstration please send it in to Active!

Asked when living standards enjoyed before the crisis would return, King said: "The research makes it clear that the impact of these crises lasts for many years. It is not like an ordinary recession, where you lose output and get it back quickly. We may not get the lost output back for very many years, if ever." http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/01/mervyn-king-blames-banks-cuts

There we have it then....pensioners being deprived by £100bn in pension increases by the change from RPI to CPI blame it on the banking sector not public sector workers!

Young people a million without jobs, education or benefits...blame it on the bankers feasting on £billions in bonuses.....

Public sector workers facing redundancies, pay cuts and attacks on pensions....the banksters are to blame...

Pension funds...deprived of income and loss of assets, economy in ruins....vote against bankers pay rises....

In a further provocation to the financial sector, King set out plans for an overhaul of City regulation and oversight that would allow banks to fail when they get into trouble. He told MPs it was necessary to move away from rules designed to prevent banks failing, with a safety net provided by taxpayers.

However, this is not the way forward...we need to demand that the banks have their licence to create money out of thin air taken away from them. Banks created the booms and busts we have to endure by creating too much money as debt then reducing the money by cutting back on lending.

And they've used this to blow up the economy and pass the costs back onto ordinary people.

If almost all money in the economy is created by commercial banks and then lent by them to the public, then it's not surprising that everyone seems to be in debt. In real terms we're richer than ever - we have more science, technology, medicine and knowledge than ever before - but we've been forced into debt because the banks have a monopoly on putting money into the economy.

But it's even worse. Under this current system, the only way that we can get out of debt is if someone else goes deeper into debt. To pay off your own debts, you need to give some of the electronic bank-created money in your account to your bank, but the money in your account had to be created by a bank when somebody else went into debt. So it's mathematically impossible under this system for us all to get out of debt.

So we must demand the total reform of the banking sector, not just regulation. Mervyn King has given us the right to demand that...he's clear the banks are to blame.

Take action today! Go to One Good Cut http://www.onegoodcut.org/take-action/

1. Sign the petition on the website! The more people we have in support of cutting benefits to bankers, the louder our voices become.

2. Tell your friends. Share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or send them an email and let them know what's going on!

3. Lobby your MP Send your MP a quick email, or if you want to be really effective, go to meet him in person or write a personalised letter following our guide 'How to Lobby Your MP'. Try and find others in your area to do the same. You could get a group of you together to go and meet your MP.