Bank Swindles and Grateful Dead

The weather’s too lovely to dwell on grim news, but I’m going to stick my neck out and foreshadow a gathering storm methinks we’re going to hear a lot more about in the autumn.

Was intrigued/disturbed to read Andy Kroll’s article Bank bailout: The greatest swindle ever sold about the six ways in which US taxpayers are being scammed by the American government’s US$12 trillion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). It seems the biggest bank bailout in history is rife with flaws – a lack of oversight, endemic overpayments, no coherent plan for returning failing institutions to profitability and perpetuating the Byzantine, overleveraged financial practices which sent the whole system down the crapper to begin with, among them. Given the big, blank cheque that Darling Alastair wrote the City, I have a sneaking suspicion similar shortcomings are going to bite us all in the proverbial on this side of the pond too. Am more than happy to be proven wrong on this one, but…The fat financial lady hasn’t sung the last sorry note on this ongoing saga, that’s for sure.

With the Ashes approaching, we Brits can be forgiven for indulging in a spot of light-hearted Aussie bashing (my PR guy’s from Oz and he’s already ducking for cover). So I was bemused to see reports last week that A$14 million of the Australian government’s recent A$900 per taxpayer cash handout designed to stimulate the economy was sent to people who had died. Seems Westminster isn’t alone when it comes to government data handling cock-ups. With all due apologies to the late, great stoner Jerry Garcia, it seems Australia’s the place to be if you want to join the ‘grateful dead’.

Have a good week, folks.