After a flurry of startling hypotheses erupted at the end of last week regarding derivatives and bank bashing, policymakers in the UK had the weekend to catch their breath and evaluate the relative merits of the arguments. Maybe this was the moment to consider that there might be at least some truth to the idea that there’s a downside to the constant vilification of anything even tangentially related to banks and bank compensation plans. Alistair Darling, please show us the middle ground we need to get to.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, targeting what he calls “greed and recklessness” in Britain’s financial system, asked banks to curtail bonus pay and said the rich will pay more in tax.
“It is right that those who earn the most should shoulder the biggest burden,” the finance minister told the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference today in Brighton, England. “We will introduce legislation to end the reckless culture that puts short-term profits over long term success. It will mean an end to automatic bank bonuses year after year.”
And back to the new normal we go.
Darling Targets Bank Bonuses, Says U.K. Rich Will Pay More Tax [Bloomberg]
Would anybody like to hear some of my poetry?
-CG
@1 Wait, you mean your on-air stints aren’t poetry?
Gasbagarino – I would LOVE to!
BOOM!
Are those eyebrows drawn on with a sharpie?
Groucho Marx called… he wants his eyebrows back.
@2
It’s not just his on air stints. CG’s entire LIFE is poetry. Poetry in Motion. BAM!
Yeah! F*ck successful people!
@Tax Chick- Going forward, on posts like this we’d appreciate it if you tried to stay more off-topic.