Bankers bonuses

This week we have had two privatised banks, that is banks that are owned by the British tax payers, report massive losses while still paying out massive bonuses to top executives and senior employees. In the same week local government employees have been told that for the fifth year in a row there will be no cost of living pay increases. The government (all parties because this started under Labour and is continuing under the coalition) seem to think that this approach is justified because “we need to rebuild the economy”. We it won’t get rebuilt if the local government employees don’t have money to spend because it is money circulating in the economy that stimulates growth. The bankers are not doing their bit on two accounts. First they are not lending to small businesses and more are going to the wall daily as they struggle to find investment funds, and secondly, the bankers bonuses are not being spent so there is no resulting stimulation of the economy from that angle either.

If the UK is going to get out of recession then all the bonuses that the banks want to pay out to their staff should be put into a pot to fund pay increases for local government workers, NHS nursing and care staff and lower ranks of our armed forces. If the bankers want to receive their payouts then they should be made to do a regular tour of duty in Afghanistan to qualify.

But the banking chiefs say that they need world class talent to rebuild the banking system so they have to pay these ludicrous salaries and bonuses, forgetting that it was those same “world class” bankers that got us into this recession in the first place. The government needs to have the balls to stand up to the bankers for one simple reason – those bankers are actually government paid officials which places them alongside all those that have just been told that they are subject to a continued pay freeze. NHS staff don’t get bonuses for saving lives, returning people to “good health” or caring for the elderly, sick and infirm yet bankers get bonuses for gambling with money that isn’t theirs. If bankers are going to be paid bonuses then there must be a criteria that says that after those bonuses have been paid out the bank must be in both pre and post tax profit. No profit, then no bonus payout.