Bankers still don't get why we're angry

Jan 18 2010 by Kevin Rowan, The Journal

THE continuing precarious nature of Tata Corus in Redcar, the announcement of Bosch to close its components factory in South Wales and the general, pervasive mood of anxiety and uncertainty in the majority of workplaces contrasts dramatically with the astounding picture of returning large-scale bonuses being dished out by arrogant, ignorant bankers.

JP Morgan Chase’s announcement on Friday that it had shelled out $26.9bn in pay and bonuses so soon after being bailed out by taxpayers will leave a sickening taste in the mouths of the hundreds of thousands of workers in the US who have lost their jobs, houses and futures in the current, banking-led recession. The obstinate obscenity of the banks that would have gone out of business without being propped up by the state demonstrates an alarming and appalling disregard for how their actions are perceived by workers across the board.

In the US, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee has been established to provide a very clear picture of the circumstances and actions that has led to the greatest global recession since the 1930s.

It has enjoyed the bewildering testimony from a range of high end bankers who continue to talk as if the crisis just happened and that there was nothing they did or even could or should have done that would have prevented the economic disaster we’re still struggling to recover from.

Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase declared that a financial crisis is something that “happens every five to seven years. We shouldn’t be surprised”. Well, we all were, including him. Dimon’s refusal to acknowledge that there were any clues that indicated the downturn could have been avoided is ludicrous, given the clear warnings that his bank had received about the significant risk of falling house prices. Goldman Sachs’s Lloyd Blankfein compared the financial crisis to a hurricane nobody could have predicted.

This determined refusal to acknowledge any predictability of the financial implosion is nothing more than a thinly veiled, disgraceful attempt to avoid any kind of responsibility. How this contrasts with the bonus culture that continues to provide eye-watering bonuses for very little productive activity at all.

Once again, President Barack Obama seems to be leading the way by introducing a relatively small, carefully targeted additional tax on those large banks that are reporting massive profits.

There was a flash of hope that this would be repeated here, one quickly extinguished by the Chancellor in the face of predictable opposition to a levy from within the industry and alarmist threats by Boris Johnson that thousands of bankers would leave the City after the introduction of a modest tax on bonuses over £25,000 (more than most people earn in a year).

The UK economy has, and continues to benefit, from a well-developed financial system; we continue to need a strong financial sector. The case for much stronger reform of this industry is, however, made more and more clear by the reckless, arrogant actions of those who continue to value their own contribution much more than anybody else does.

Kevin Rowan, Regional Secretary, Northern TUC