Comments on: Why we should all be saying sorry

By: monty burns

monty burns — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:13:21 +0000

Regarding the first post this is all about comeuppance:

If you borrowed too much and can’t make the payments you get your house repossessed, and this is happening all across the UK at the moment.

If you lend too much to the wrong person your going to lose money, and this is happening, the banks are writing down billions, but they get help from the state in the form of billions from the government.

The person who borrowed too much and lost their home also gets help from the government, but its not much, atleast it probably doesn’t feel like much when you see what the banks are getting, or how they’re still behaving.

By: Gordon Brown says sorry â€“ but | Investment and Business News

Gordon Brown says sorry â€“ but | Investment and Business News — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:54:20 +0000

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By: Colin Blackman

Colin Blackman — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:04:22 +0000

Robert Peston, last December, in a look forward to 2009 seemed unusually candid when he said:

â€œAs for the media, we certainly could have shouted louder about the risks of all that debt being accumulated â€“ but perhaps the volume control was set a little too low because of all the splendid advertising revenue that was generated by the property boom.â€

By: Sandy

Sandy — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:22:54 +0000

The appologising game on the whole appears to be the press scoring cheap points as you say, however what is getting my goat is the fact that much of the time GB appears not to remember what part he did play whilst in nbr 11. GB put the FSA in charge of the regulation of the banks. GB spent money like water and blew away the country’s savings so we have nothing now that we can do apart from put our children to work to pay for what he is spending today. GB is the guy who is now telling the FSA to govern the banks behavior more carefully and increase the banks capital ratios and at the same time is pushing them to lend lend lend. GB is the guy who watched the personal debt mountain growing out of control and did nothing to stop it. I could go on and on but what is for sure is that history will not show that Mr Brown was anything but a spendthrift with no concept of financial diligence. My mother would say that he appears to think money grows on trees.

By: Neil Parker

Neil Parker — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:25:20 +0000

I think the first reply has just validated the comments in the blog.

Yes, children will eat too many sweets if offered the chance, that is because they are children and have a limited grasp of right and wrong, cause and effect and self moderation. You are an adult therefore you should have picked up some of these traits by now. That means you cannot do something irresponsible and then blame someone else because they didn’t stop you or warn you that it was wrong.

Also the government did not encourage banks to lend through the incentive of large bonus’s. The banks encouraged themselves to lend in an irresponsible manner and who fed that greed? The shareholders (normally your pension or ISA fund) who wanted more profit, and the customers who wanted to borrow the money and ultimately that was you and I, however you wish to dress it up.

And no if I leave my door open I do not expect you to come in and steal my possessions. I expect you to close the door on my behalf, with no other potential for reward than the fact that it was the right thing to do.

Yes, the government and the banks should shoulder some of the blame, but they didn’t do it on their own……….

By: Simon Webster

Simon Webster — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:59:17 +0000

We live on an island with a finate supply of land & ludicrous planning laws.

In the UK people want to own their own homes. Pay Â£750 a month rent and have nothing or pay the same on a mortgage and have something to call your own – it’s hardly rocket science – most people will choose buy and as soon as they can get credit people will buy and prices will start moving up again. It is the very basic economics of supply and demand

By: Andrew Harwood

Andrew Harwood — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:30:05 +0000

The article completely misses the point. If a child is given a bag of sweets it is likely to eat them. You do not then blame the child for being irresponsible. The Government encouraged banks to lend through the incentive of large bonuses and no constraints and the public in turn to borrow. Clearly the banks must shoulder some responsibility, but if you leave your front door open then you can expect someone to steal your possessions.

Ultimately the Government’s ineptitude has to be the prime motivator behind the mess we are now in and they continue to make the same mistakes by attempting to buy their way out of recession.