Emergency motion on banking crisis

Tom Wilde · 04-10-2008, 10:54 PM

The 2008 Liberal Assembly was held today in Wolverhampton. (I couldn't go due to family commitments).

An emergency motion was proposed by Mark Austin dealing with the current banking crisis. I've seen a draft of the motion, but I don't know how close the text below is to the motion finally debated by the Assembly. Still, just out of interest, I thought I'd post the draft motion here with a poll question to see what people think of it.

Quote:

Assembly notes with alarm the continuing and increasing financial crisis.

Assembly believes:

That the crisis is not the result of speculation and short selling but
the result of a systemic failure of the banking and financial system
which the speculation revealed;

That this crisis was in no small part caused by the deregulation of
the financial system by successive Conservative and Labour governments
at the behest of the same financial institutions supported by "free
market" economists;

That unless urgent action is taken there is a serious risk of an
economic collapse;

That if the financial institutions in question are simply propped up
with government finance, they will simply repeat the errors in a
different fashion;

That the crisis was made worse by a total failure of the regulatory
authorities: in particular the Financial Services Authority and the Bank
of England, but not forgetting the Treasury, which failed in its duty
to monitor those agencies.

Assembly notes:

That all the mutual Building Societies which converted to banks have
now or previously had to be taken over as a result of instituional
weaknesses;

That none of those mutual societies which did not convert to banks
have showed any sign of weakness;

That the principal problem at present is a massive failure in
confidence in the system, as evinced by the high rate of interest for
LIBOR transactions.

Assembly therefore resolves:

That it essential that confidence in the financial system be restored;

That it is undesirable that cash be simply poured into an unrestored
financial system;

That therefore any cash injected into banks or other financial
institution be granted only on the basis of the government taking
equity shares in the company at the then current market price (such
shares be taken on an understanding that they be sold back at the
earliest opportunity);

That this Assembly has no confidence in the regulatory authorities and
calls for the dismissal for incompetence of senior figures in these
authorities: including the Director of the FSA and the Governor of the
Bank of England;

That the regulatory authorities be reformed to create a single
financial regulator: whose brief should be to take a proactive role in
the monitoring of financial instruments, and with the powers to ban
the use of such dangerous and risky instruments and to require the
holding of sufficient financial support;

That the banks and other financial institutions are simply too large
to be properly monitored, and that they should be broken up into
smaller, preferrably regionally based organisations, and that the
formation of new mutual organisations from these pre-existing
organisations should be actively encouraged.

I put this forward as a possible motion for Assembly, and ask for
comments, proposed amendments and names in support

Mark Austin

John Connor · 05-10-2008, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom Wilde

The 2008 Liberal Assembly was held today in Wolverhampton.

...it was so large that they had to go and ask the drinkers at one of the other tables if they could borrow a chair.

Hartlepool · 05-10-2008, 02:45 PM

HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Nice one JC.

Dilke · 05-10-2008, 03:02 PM

Quote:

That all the mutual Building Societies which converted to banks have
now or previously had to be taken over as a result of instituional
weaknesses;

That none of those mutual societies which did not convert to banks
have showed any sign of weakness;

Not strictly true, a several Building Societies have ‘merged’ or in reality been taken over by other societies.

I’m a great supporter of mutuals and co-operatives, you find that in the past as today mutuals look after each other when they can. The sad reality is that the carpetbaggers (aided and abetted by the Conservative government) who looted the Building Societies that became banks, of accumulated wealth built up by generations, won’t be the ones to suffer.

Not sure sacking Eddy George will boost confidence!

European Citizen · 06-10-2008, 02:39 AM

The current banking crisis was in part caused by government meddling - by forcing banks to lend to people they otherwise not would have lent to (esp. in the US). There's an argument for more deregulation, not less.

Little Englander (sour) · 07-10-2008, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by European Citizen

The current banking crisis was in part caused by government meddling - by forcing banks to lend to people they otherwise not would have lent to (esp. in the US). There's an argument for more deregulation, not less.

I suppose that "more regulation" will be exercised by the all powerful, all seeing and omnipresent EU Commission.

Cast your mind back to the Basle II treaty and, if you haven't already, read the directives pertaining to Finance and Valuation, you'll soon see that the EU was responsible for the present predicament, the USA is just a convenient whipping boy.

European Citizen · 07-10-2008, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Englander (sour)

I suppose that "more regulation" will be exercised by the all powerful, all seeing and omnipresent EU Commission.

Where do you think most of our laws and regulations come from now? For the most part I like EU legislation.

Tom Wilde · 08-10-2008, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Connor

...it was so large that they had to go and ask the drinkers at one of the other tables if they could borrow a chair.

Tom Wilde · 08-10-2008, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Englander (sour)

I suppose that "more regulation" will be exercised by the all powerful, all seeing and omnipresent EU Commission.

Cast your mind back to the Basle II treaty and, if you haven't already, read the directives pertaining to Finance and Valuation, you'll soon see that the EU was responsible for the present predicament, the USA is just a convenient whipping boy.

While I agree that the EU Commission are power-mad, dismally incompetent über-bureaucrats, and while I will read those directives with interest, I can't really imagine that the USA is "just a convenient whipping boy". This whole crisis kicked off due to the sub-prime mortgage lending craze, and that started in the USA.

Isn't there some saying about how success has many parents, but failure is an orphan? Well, I reckon that this failure probably has many parents, and that if we're going to name names then it definitely has George W. Bush's nose.

youcanhandlethetruth · 05-12-2008, 03:10 AM

"That therefore any cash injected into banks or other financial
institution be granted only on the basis of the government taking
equity shares in the company at the then current market price (such
shares be taken on an understanding that they be sold back at the
earliest opportunity);"

What about helping the people that can't afford to pay their mortgages on the condition that they repay ? What about small businesses with no money who now can't even get credit to operate effectively in the current climate despite the bailout ?

The banks have already proved themselves as incompetent and unwilling to lend, so why give them another handout at all ?

Given the banks are not helping homeowners or small businesses now(contrary to what you may beleive in the media), shouldn't the Liberal Party be ?

I generally agreed with the priciples of the motion, until I learnt that is just another "banker bailout".

If $7,000,000,000,000(U.S figure) of taxpayers money is going to be given away(with no assurance it will be returned despite the political word "should"), shouldn't it be little man and the heavily taxed people who can't afford to pay their mortgages who get the government handouts ?

For a change ?......

In turn that would get the economy going again too, rather the banks hoarding it all and using it for acquisitions and "vertical integration" of other smaller banks.

View Poll Results: Do you support the Liberal Assembly emergency motion on the banking crisis?
Support	3	33.33%
Oppose	4	44.44%
Abstain	2	22.22%
Voters: 9. You may not vote on this poll

05-12-2008, 03:10 AM	#10 (permalink)
youcanhandlethetruth Uber Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 2,689	"That therefore any cash injected into banks or other financial institution be granted only on the basis of the government taking equity shares in the company at the then current market price (such shares be taken on an understanding that they be sold back at the earliest opportunity);" What about helping the people that can't afford to pay their mortgages on the condition that they repay ? What about small businesses with no money who now can't even get credit to operate effectively in the current climate despite the bailout ? The banks have already proved themselves as incompetent and unwilling to lend, so why give them another handout at all ? Given the banks are not helping homeowners or small businesses now(contrary to what you may beleive in the media), shouldn't the Liberal Party be ? I generally agreed with the priciples of the motion, until I learnt that is just another "banker bailout". If $7,000,000,000,000(U.S figure) of taxpayers money is going to be given away(with no assurance it will be returned despite the political word "should"), shouldn't it be little man and the heavily taxed people who can't afford to pay their mortgages who get the government handouts ? For a change ?...... In turn that would get the economy going again too, rather the banks hoarding it all and using it for acquisitions and "vertical integration" of other smaller banks. __________________ Before tyranny and television, "conspiracy theorists" never existed. cointelpro/halfwits(in order of Porkpies) Clippo,newspresenter,Wowbanger TIP,agni,Akria,********,Bear,Eurosceptic Antlantacist

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05-10-2008, 02:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
Hartlepool Uber Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Northern England Posts: 7,105 Party: Free England Party	HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Nice one JC.

06-10-2008, 02:39 AM	#5 (permalink)
European Citizen Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: The European Union Posts: 466 Party: Conservatives	The current banking crisis was in part caused by government meddling - by forcing banks to lend to people they otherwise not would have lent to (esp. in the US). There's an argument for more deregulation, not less.