Barons & peasants yet again

Two stories in today's [8th August] Financial Times. On the front page, Stephen Hester of RBS bewailing the continued criticism of the bank(s) saying that the numbers of top performing staff leaving had doubled in the first six months of 2009 after the bank agreed with the government to place restrictions on future bonus payments. The fact that all Mr Hester has to do is to get the banks share price to 70p in three years to earn himself £9.6million, does, I'm sure, not influence his view of the role of the bank for the public good. I had no sooner finished mopping up my tears of sympathy when lo, on the back page of the FT Money supplement, we find that the banks are refusing financial support to SMEs forcing some sound and valuable businesses to go bust in the process. The global financial industry had to be kept afloat (sadly) but we should have allowed Northern Rock & RBS to go bust just to make the point to the others & deny Goodwin & Applegarth their grotesque rewards for failure. It has to be probable that depositors funds could have been protected for the same kind of money that has in any case been pumped into these two banks.