Bankers really need to learn some social graces...

[davefreer]

You know, one of the things that goes with being cock-o-whoop that EVERYBODY needs to be nice to (even if they hate and despise you) - like a CEO, a judge, your bank manager, or the cop giving you a ticket, is that you miss learning or forget the social cues that say "Idiot. Wind your stupid neck in before you get your damnfool head chopped off." (

Comments

[unixronin]

Most bankers, like most politicians, believe themselves part of the new aristocracy.

[davefreer]

I think that you are essentially right. And those who do not learn from history (about the joys of being ruled by aristocrats, or what happens to ones who grasp too much when times are hard) are doomed to repeat it.

[reverancepavane]

I can't wait to hear the great Australian public's delight...
That's actually making the assumption that we haven't already given up in despair. Whilst the ACCC has tried to prove collusion with regard to setting bank charges a couple of times, none of it has been able to stick. Because there is no need for them to actually collude as long as they are all willing to be fat cats. And given the fact that government regulations tend to require you to work through banks in most cases (otherwise the government looks at you funny and investigates you for tax fraud and similar), it's a fait accompli.
Extremely poorly thought out changes in the financial sector over the last thirty years (unless you were a shareholder in a bank), made banks extremely viable commercial entities. So much so, that all the cooperative building societies and community banks became banks, reducing the options available to the public (unless, of course, you were wealthy enough for banks to compete for your custom).
I think my favourite change was allowing banks to

[davefreer]

Apathy does well when thing are flourishing. As people find recession biting the idea of tarring and feathering starts gaining momentum.

Seriously, the government - in tough times - have a stonking great big lever. The Banks have already have benefitted from taxpayer funds. All you need to say is that any future gaurantees will have be assessed on past usage of taxpayer funds. Banks which have used these funds to bolster their bottom line, and increased costs to the taxpayers who bailed them, will not be eligible for future gaurantees. Only Australian citizen deposits up to x will be guaranteed. And then put a three month complaince date with a public participation site for listing banks who should not be eligible in future. There'd be outraged howls, and complaints that they were misundertood, and that it was too complicated for our small minds (yes likely) and much begging - because being blacklisted would be stock-market suicide, and then with as much squirming as they can manage, compliance.