27 Mar 2013

When the state loots the shareholder

State-sanctioned looting of shareholders becomes the norm in the United Kingdom. First not-so-gentle persuasion was used to force banks to compensate 'victims of mis-selling' (though how these millions were forced to buy products that they were not supposed to either want or need still is beyond me). Then all those who were at the loosing end of derivative contracts that were designed to protect them against interest rate risk were out with their begging bowls and a complicit media commentariat, lobbyists and politicians jumped on the bandwagon to punish the unloved banking sector. The latest illustration of madcap regulatory overreach is given today as the UK's FSA fines Prudential Plc 30 (in words: thirty!!!) million pounds on the spurious pretext of not having been informed in time about a possible bid for AIA. The shareholders and pensioners who are paying for this nonsense will be the ones picking up the bill that feeds the ever-rising army of paper-pushers in the regulatory Gulag that slowly strangles the financial industry in the UK - no need for the 'Troika' to aid an inept government of PR luvies.

18 Mar 2013

Stalinist Incomes policy - spiteful and arbitrary

The European (Dis?) Union is on the slippery road to serfdom (Hayek) when professional agitators like Sven Giegold (read his CV carefully, you will shudder when you read it!) are given the opportunity to introduce 'laws' that arbitrarily set pay (Financial Times) for a minority of the population that he and his minions want to punish for ideological reasons. It is not possible to argue with these extremists (have a look at what 'Attac' stands for) and the only way to combat the takeover of the pseud-democratic institutions in the EU and the member states is a complete overhaul of the political system based on a radical and comprehensive form of direct democracy safeguarded by a proper bill of rights that bans discriminatory legislation. Those who do not just want to shrug their shoulders or clench their fists in their trouser pockets should contact me and take part in the democratic reform project.