Tony Curzon Price (London, openDemocracy): The Bank of England's report on the state of finance has about 3 worrying graphs per page.
Here's just one example - the amount that UK banks will need tofind next year to pay back loans that are coming due.
Any wonder the banks are hoarding all that taxpayer investment they
are getting and not lending on? And if you were asked to invest in a
business that you knew had to stump up these sorts of sums next year,
would you worry that your investment was just going to stright into the
pocket of a creditor whose lending terms are tougher than your
ownership terms?
I'm all for the State being the bank of last resort, but I don't have any taste for the taxpayer being the dupe of last resort. Why don't we let these banks go under while putting in place an emergency financial system. I am glad to see that Walter Munchau has started to suggest this option.
