I thought this was a really good reminder in regards to the banks...

www.abc.net.au/news/story-streams/federal-budget-2017/2017-05-15/why-scott-morrisons-bank-levy-doesnt-go-far-enough/8525620

Maaate, didn't you get the central bank memo? Privatise the profits, socialise the losses.

The other one is print, print, print... trickle down economics.

If a few individuals went bankrupt after dodgy financial practices and then turned to the taxpayer cap in hand, demand to be bailed out for over a trillion dollars, then people would think they were insane and have them committed.

If a few individuals who own a merchant bank went bankrupt after dodgy financial practices and then turned to the taxpayer cap in hand, demand to be bailed out for over a trillion dollars, then people would think they were "too big to fail" and hand them trillions almost overnight.

Don't have trillions? No problem, just print money out of thin air. Now that's criminal.

The handling of the GFC was one of the most corrupt socialist events in American history.

So far removed from true capitalist principles that the country has all but sold out to corporate thugs.

If America was indeed capitalist, it would have let those banks fail. How else do crooks learn? They don't learn by getting bailed out by the honest, hard-working taxpayer.

I liked this bit in particular from the ABC article:
"In a truly competitive market, firms have to compete on price, not merely pass on costs.

That level of market power (of the big Australian banks) also explains their retreat from overseas. ANZ and NAB are the latest to quit Asia, Europe and North America.

The kind of easy pickings at home just aren't available elsewhere. No Australian retail bank, it seems, has ever successfully expanded beyond Auckland."

Definitely worth a read.

Clarence

Indeed Adriano.

Central banks, their global corporate Templar knights and their frivolous politician puppets think they can tame the markets. Play god by distorting real price and value by printing fake money (which is meant to represent value) and pulling the interest rate lever.

But the market will will eventually reveal the greatest Ponzi scheme in history because this bad boy is global and highly interconnected.

Problem is as usual, the common person will suffer the most. Even those that don't own assets and have some cash, their currency value will also be wiped out in the next cyclic crash.

Unfortunately each generation forgets what happened last time and people explaining the obvious like above are called nut jobs.

That being said there is still some money to be made in this Ponzi scheme, the central banks still have a few more boots to put on to kick the can down the road.

Which makes the non mainstream observers look even more alarmist and crazy.

Select to expand quote

eppo said..

Problem is as usual, the common person will suffer the most. Even those that don't own assets and have some cash, their currency value will also be wiped out in the next cyclic crash.

eppo,

You are suggesting that those with assets and those that have cash will suffer. But you also say the common person will suffer the most. But aren't the wealthy the ones with the most assets and cash, so why aren't they the ones suffering most. Also, if someone was to believe in your prediction, would you have a suggested strategy to reduce the personal impact of the impending doom?

(Not taking the mickey, just curious to see what your view and ideas might be.)

St George and Westpac should never have been allowed to merge.

Banks are not the most popular institutions especially in Straya. The strings of accusations, some are true, while some are exagerated.

Because the perception of banks is bad, as typified by the treasurer's comments when he delivered his 2nd budget, now they are being made to pay for the sins in the form of a levy, or tax if you are straight down the line sort of person. OK, the economy is crap, and the government is running into a debt wall. Easy revenues in the form of resource loyalties are becoming thinner and thinner. So looking around the room, and there are the bad guys who had been ripping people off all this time. Go get them boys !

$6.2 Billions over 4 years. No worries. Banks will pay for it. The trouble with such a simplistic idea, ie. tax the bloody hell out of the bad guys, do not always come out the way as intended. There are collateral casualties along the way. But not only that, I believe the bank customers may end up paying the tax themselves. Self defeating exercise.

Collateral damages:
For a start, I lost almost $15,000 since the declaration of the tax. Sure, I am not dependent on it to survive. No worries there. However, if the government is to believe in the trickle-down economy, then it will put it to the test.

How? Now that I have lost $15,000, I will have that much less room to move in making financial decisions. Will that help the economy?

Bank customers:
As much as the government and some people would like to believe, the banks are likely to pass on some, if not all of the 0.06% onto the customers, if they can get away with it. Now are the banks paying for the levy, or the customers themselves ?