Wednesday 15 October 2008

WHAT AM I MISSING?

I may be a bit thick on these matters but I am unable to understand some of these financial matters.
If the banks have lent up to 30 times their deposits this money can not exist. The money given to the banks by the government can not possibly cover these phantom amounts. The RBS has potential liabilities of £2.4 trillion, double the gross national product of this country, and that's just one bank.
If the money was used to secure the money owed by the banks to depositors the money owed to the banks could be written off. The assets , houses and businesses would still be there. This would stop people being made bankrupt or losing their houses or savings so everybody apart from the banks would be better off.
I'm probably missing something but it seems stupid to raise taxes to secure money which does not exist and which could never be enough in any case.
Gordon Brown's miracle rescue after an initial boost to shares does not seem to have impressed the stock market as prices are down today. Unemployment has begun its inevitable rise.
Hard times are only just starting as we pay for the folly of the Labour and Tory governments.
There is only one party fit to run our country and it certainly isn't the above two.

BUT WHAT AM I MISSING ? Please help me understand.

yaz