Some people somewhere are making a lot of money out of the current financial crisis. The market goes up and down – it’s “volatile” – and if you know what you are doing, or more importantly know of (or start) the small pieces of information that makes the market go up and down, then you can play the markets and make lots of money. The market always goes up and down (generally upwards – and it will again), but currently, it goes up and down by 5% or more. 6% is what you would normally expect to make on your fund (an endowment, a pension plan, a managed ISA) in a year. You can make this almost every day at the moment if you know if it goes up or down. 50/50, I hear you say? No, it isn’t. People in the market “in the know” do know if it will crash or “rally”. They do, trust me.

The men at the top are going to have their bonuses and pay controlled, we are told. If this happens, the men at the top will simply go abroad or stop. (they already have lots of money, remember, and they are people “in the know” (see para above), so they won’t get bored). The government own big chunks of these banks and want to sell their shares at a profit. Will they do that if the banks are over-controlled and have the senior execs jumping ship and running off to Dubai (a new financial centre, which is now rubbing its hands and finishing off all the new gleaming offices, ready to house these execs)? No, the government doesn’t want these white elephants. Expect the banks to reposses your house to get the money in, that they have to repay to the government – who took it from you in the first place. Expect the government to quietly sell the equity back to the original owners in the first place (your pension funds) at a loss (when the bank has taken your homes), on the banker’s terms. After all, the bankers are smarter than the politicians – that’s why they’re bankers.

Simple, really.