Martin Wolf, Scourge of the Bankers
In his spirited defence of liberal capital markets and free trade, Why Globalization Works, the associate editor and chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, Martin Wolf, addresses the question of effective banking regulation. He writes:
"The management of any systematically important bank that has to be rescued by the state should be disbarred, as a matter of course, from further work in the financial industry. Remember the fundamental point. Big banks have consistently operated in the knowledge that their profits are private and losses, if large enough, public. In other words, the institutions they run are underpinned by the state. Managers are, in an important sense, public servants. If they abuse that trust, they should be treated accordingly."
Why Globalization Works (Yale, 2005, paperback edition, page 298)
So, what should happen to the managers of those banks now being rescued by the state in the US and the UK? In the view of the associate editor of the Financial Times they should be barred from further work in finance, as far as I can tell.
"The management of any systematically important bank that has to be rescued by the state should be disbarred, as a matter of course, from further work in the financial industry. Remember the fundamental point. Big banks have consistently operated in the knowledge that their profits are private and losses, if large enough, public. In other words, the institutions they run are underpinned by the state. Managers are, in an important sense, public servants. If they abuse that trust, they should be treated accordingly."
Why Globalization Works (Yale, 2005, paperback edition, page 298)
So, what should happen to the managers of those banks now being rescued by the state in the US and the UK? In the view of the associate editor of the Financial Times they should be barred from further work in finance, as far as I can tell.
posted by Dan Hind at 5:50 AM
3 Comments:
Investigators in the US have already unearthed sufficient evidence to start prosecutions against literally hundreds of advisers engaged in mortgage loans, but the problems run far higher up the ladder, and cover a very wide range of issues. Take a look, for example, at Swiss banking giant UBS' predicament in the United States, which reveals the most extraordinary culture of aiding and abetting criminal activity: http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2008/06/revoke-ubs-banking-license.html
I have a great deal of time for Martin Wolf's work, but until very recently he has steered well clear of one of the greatest faultlines in the process of globalising financial markets, namely how capital mobility undermines national sovereignty in tax matters, enabling tax evasion on an industrial scale (think about the proliferation of tax havens since the 1970s) and supporting harmful tax competition. Wolf has recently responded to me on these issues, but his position remains weak:
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2008/05/tax-competition-tjn-in-ft-economists.html
and
http://taxjustice.blogspot.com/2008/06/martin-wolf-on-tax-competition.html
Regards
John Christensen
Tax Justice Network
You can get a superior replica watch for about $100-$300. I advance you not to buy those replicas beneath $100 because they are all in bad quality. A lot of of them can not endure for a year. First, admitting they are crafted by the aboriginal brands, they accept been bedevilled by anyone before.
These days there are plenty of true religion jeans sale that make you look like a fashion icon rather than a geeky dork like how some envision themselves.
Post a Comment
<< Home