Sunday, October 25, 2009

Stop the fat-cat bonuses! George Soros turns on the bankers


As bailed-out institutions plan to share billions among staff, top figures in the City – including bank directors – call on the Government to take decisive action at last

The Independent

"....George Soros (below) became the latest high-profile figure from the world of finance to condemn the bankers, and call for watertight restrictions on their activities yesterday. He said: "Banks are actually getting hidden subsidies of enormous amounts because of their ability to borrow at effectively zero, and buy 10-year government bonds at 3.5 per cent. So those earnings are not the achievement of risk-takers. These are gifts, hidden gifts, from the Government, so I don't think those monies should be used to pay bonuses. So there's a resentment which I think is justified.".......

What is significant about the signals being picked up by this newspaper is that this mood of anger at the bankers, and their disconnection from the world inhabited by the rest of the economy, is being echoed by the likes of Mervyn King and George Soros. In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Soros said there was a need to regulate payments to employees, even if that meant banks found it hard to retain talented risk-takers. He said: "That would push the risk-takers who are good at taking risks out of Goldman Sachs into hedge funds, where they actually belong, because hedge funds take risks with their own capital, not with deposits and not with government guarantees."......."

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