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sanity4all

Listed below are comments made by sanity4all between Monday, 2nd March 2009 and Thursday, 29th October 2009.

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A forest of issues 07:23am on 29 Oct 2009 Yes, Ecuador is a good example and some sound points made here. The legally binding bit is interesting. Depends on how responsible we all wish to be, I guess.

In a time of all sorts of radical (and sensible) "ideas", from experts in their fields, "fruit-cakes" and politicans, sometimes these ideas need to be explored further.

Hopefully Copenhagen will be something tangible and sensible and not just opportunities for politicians to grandstand, grab the limelight (eco-light) and raise taxes to preserve and protect their existence, over and above protecting the environment!

As for some crazy ideas, I have wondered when the idea of drilling for oil and gas will be curtailed because of "sinking land mass" shrinking the earth's diameter by minute amounts, perceptible over millenia on the earths days and seasons?

I guess we all know(?)climate change is one minute part of the whole earth cycle, from its periodic solar orbital declination changes, through its precession of the Poles, leading parts of the Poles favouring the Sun over thousands of years, to minute changes in rotation due to lunar and solar gravitational influences, cooling, earth disturbances, oceanic temperature fluctuations and changes such as the 'atlantic conveyor' ocean currents, let alone 'co2 blankets', 'ozone depleted areas of the atmosphere' and sun-spot cycles, solar atmospheric winds etc.

Man too plays his part in 'consuming resources' and 'producing waste' (including Co2) yet also has a desire to preserve some parts of its surface 'as is' and some, as 'landfill'.

So isn't man's part in the bigger picture, a bit like playing King Canute?

Though well meaning, we can do so little to influence bigger changes that in (larger) timescales will affect us all.

We can, like the example of Ecuador, tidy up our own behaviour.

Although not imminent any time soon, its time we changed our attitude to there only being the one planet Earth and make the political decisions to move onward and outward in the solar system and galaxies that make up the vast reaches of space.

Space doesn't currently belong to anyone, other than those that populate it - just as Richard's examples of Ecuadorean tribes have rights on their lands -so what are we waiting for?

The resources are out there, in addition to new discoveries, we just need to start the process and over time, we could reasonably expect Earth's population to stabilise, maybe even decline, reducing demand on its own depleting resources, whilst exploiting what is there in front of us for free.

I guess we all have a long way to go before we scratch the real surfaces of Climate Change, man-made or natural and make a real change.
Business still being crunched by banks 1:13pm on 23 Jul 2009 if banks are having trouble making profits, do we have too many banks for these troubled times?
the BOE and Gov won't let any of them go under, partly because of the enormous loan books they carry, but it may be a way out, to consolidate and reduce the number of banks.
just as industry in the boom times, bought out and consolidated, now is the time to face the unpalatable truth -
a) we have one or two banks that are dangerously overstretched (too large to fail) and
b) we have too many banks taking too little of what profit there is to be had.

Consolidation and unfortunately more redundancies are inevitable.

Fewer banks will not instantly lead to lack of competition, but it may ultimately release much needed funding for the businesses that not only form the backbone of this country, but keeps the very banks themselves alive.
They need each other as their own life support systems, perhaps as appropriately parasitically dependent as the Clownfish and the Anenome!
News of the World bugged Sun editor 11:00am on 10 Jul 2009 ok Robert, who planted these stories? OGC? Downing Street et all?
Surely this is a bit beneath your normal postings and demeans your stature.
Who needed pressure taking off them? And just before 'end-of-term'?
Mandelson? The PM? The Chancellor?
Methinks all three have a lot to answer for and are hiding an awful lot more in sheer desperation.
So has Barclays. Keep digging. Where did the dosh really end up and into whose pockets?
Count it, don't follow it 2:50pm on 15 May 2009 So Stephanie, what you are intimating is, that the £100 claimed, might have bought a chair, might have made an MP £100 'richer' or been used for another purpose, that MAY or MAY NOT have been legal?
So are you saying that it might be worth going back through expense receipts and whereabouts of MP's and see WHAT and more importantly WHO they spent their money on?
Might be interesting to see who got up to what in the days before the Iraq war or even look closely at the itemised phone bills!
Bonus culture lives 2:21pm on 15 May 2009 perhaps a spell of time in prison would be appropriate for the guilty bankers, or even MP's for that matter. The public, especially those whose lives have been blighted by the criminal and corrupt actions of those employed in every UK bank, deserve compensation, or at least the possibility of someone prosecuting every bank employee that has had contact with 'toxic assets'. Wish we had class action lawsuits in the UK.

if you, I or anyone who runs a business takes money, that is not theirs and gambles with it (as in the case of the bankers) or spends it on themselves, we would have the police round, possibly the fraud squad, HM Revenue and Customs etc and probably followed by a spell 'inside'.

So why shouldn't Bankers lose their jobs or repay their losses and not just MP's?

Mortgages wrapped up as CDO's or bonds is nothing. Look behind the mortgages and credit cards. See if their owners actually exist - or the properties, cars and yachts the money was lent against, here in theUK or overseas.

Bankers, whether investment managers, brokers, senior bankers including the likes of John Varley and the Goodwins of this world need to be brought to heel once and for all.

Send SOCA in and open ALL the books of ALL the BANKS trading in the UK.
Quite sure it will be amazing what would be found.

It would be brilliant for the Book Industry, think of all the books
that we could look forward to reading, to see if the fiction we've already been sold, matches the facts when investigated.

We the public deserve the truth once and for all.
Goodwin's tax break 4:55pm on 17 Mar 2009 ah. your last paragraph says it all.

just what arrangement did Lord Myners and Sir Fred come to, in the end?

as Lord Myners is not naive, was it possibly that in return for 'silence' over the 'banking scandals' and perhaps even more damaging information to both the Gov and the Finance Industry, that Sir Fred was allowed to take his money and walk away?

perhaps we'll never know.

is it really worth chasing this story anymore? unless anyone breaks ranks and spills more beans, we must move on.

there are too many well qualified people out there who have been reduced to penury and at present, have no way out, nor their wives and children.

this would be a far better story for you to follow up Mr Peston, "just what is Gordon Brown going to do with real money and real action for just such people, innocently ruined by incompetence?"
Time to hug a banker? 4:48pm on 17 Mar 2009 Hug a banker?

I don't think so, Robert. Worst thing we could ever do.

Why would we ever wish to trust them again?

More importantly, why do we need them when things get back to "normal"?

Wasn't it the last "normal" that got us into this mess in the first place?

Fingers in the till and gambling our money away, whilst accruing jaw-dropping pension benefits.

No Robert, a hug is too good and repeating the sentiments already posted:

"mug a banker maybe, but better to fire them and their regulators."

If any of us abused our positions of office, we would be shown the door promptly without a pretty pension!
QE Day (2) 1:54pm on 06 Mar 2009 The BOE may not know what they are doing. No-one would ever admit it, now would they?

Maybe it is different to Zimbabwe.

Some business leaders have been calling for months for interest rates to be left alone or even raised a point, to stimulate growth.

Banks may have empty coffers, but sinking money into them to pass on to business or consumers is not always the only way.

If banks speed up dealing with their toxic assets, they could be accused of 'repossessing with undue haste'. If they delay, of 'withholding lending'.

Perhaps the only answer is instead of insurance and guarantees, every dodgy debt was simply written off for now, by each countries respective governments and when eventually 'realised' or 'liquidated', becomes an asset to the treasury.
Clawing back Sir Fred's pension 5:48pm on 03 Mar 2009 Robert

Ask yourself why is it that this story is still running?

It's masking the Royal Mail giveaway,

the losses incurred yet again by Northern Rock,

other losses at AIG etc and of course,

the extraordinary flight of Flash to the USA?

(By the way how did he afford it, UK PLC is broke?)

It has also allowed Ms Harman to get some media coverage,

because she was jealous that Peter Mandelson was getting it

and any other spare air time was devoted to the scandalous bankers,

and of course yourself, Robert.

So what is the Communications 'directorate' in No 10 really up to? What are they really hiding?

Perhaps the outrageous data protection 'sharing' clause in the Bill before Parliament today, that means anybody, Tom Cobley, Robert Peston and all, can see our personal data!

p.s. did you bring back any 'crispy duck' or other tasty chinese morsels?
The spirit of Churchill 6:50pm on 02 Mar 2009 Nick

"It started in America", so Flash boldly informed us,

"the solution will come out of America", so both Flash and AD both informed us

so, couldn't we just leave him over there?

it would be justice after all:

a) the problem is (now) in America
b) the solution is to leave the problem (Gordon) in America
c) Blair could get him another job, I'm sure, over at JP Morgan

let's just get on without him

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