The euro crisis will give Germany the empire it’s always dreamed of
Many of the biggest losers from the Wall Street Crash were not those greedy speculators who bought at the very top of the market. There was also a category of investor who recognised that stocks had...
View ArticleWho will save us now?
The Depression analogies are everywhere, unsurprisingly. Today has that giddy feeling of 2008, when banking crisis followed banking crisis, factories were closing down and presidents were spotted...
View ArticleThere's a whiff of a PR exercise about Greg Smith's ostentatious exit from...
I don’t buy it. I’m sure Greg Smith is a very nice man and believes his motives for launching a vociferous attack on Goldman Sachs as he heads out the door are honourable, but let’s be honest. This...
View ArticleBarclays Libor fixing: time for a proper public inquiry into the banking crisis
I’m in the middle of researching a book on the financial crisis, speaking to witnesses and trying to make sense of the British end of the greatest public disaster/scandal of our age. Every week it...
View ArticleForget the banks: we need a public inquiry into the culture and ethics of the...
Ed Miliband is right: we need an inquiry. Not merely a narrow, behind-closed-doors, you-ignore-the-worst-scratches-on-my-back-and-I’ll-ignore-yours rummage around the Libor scandal. But a forensic,...
View ArticleBob Diamond's trial by ducking stool shows how confused we are about where,...
Bob Diamond’s first mistake was being called Bob Diamond. For a dodgy banker, it’s a parody name. Bob Diamond? It cries out avarice and sleaze. The sooner we can get shot of him and get his deputy in...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne and Ed Balls in bare-knuckle brawl on the floor of the Commons
Ed Balls and George Osborne are supposed to have a sneaking mutual respect for one another. That respect was left at the door of the House of Commons chamber today. The debate on the government’s...
View ArticleWill big banks such as Barclays have a future when technology is about to...
Barclays, in an effort to revive its fortunes, is to cut jobs and trim its investment bank. At this millions of taxpayers shout hurrah, for they are sick of hearing about investment bankers mugging old...
View ArticleBravo, Mark Carney: for capitalism's sake, greedy bankers must be punished
Perhaps there is light at the end of the anti-capitalist tunnel. Mark Carney is using language sharp enough to penetrate the ears of even the most ostrich-like banker: "Bankers made enormous sums in...
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