The Great Tax Robbery

By J T Coombes    www.globalmagnacarta.com    @GMagnaCarta

The use of taxpayer money to bail out the banks has become the biggest bank robbery in the history of our species.

Robbery because taxpayer funds were only ever designed to provide the infrastructures that support society; healthcare, education, roads, railways, and so much more that assists people in living their lives as comfortably as possible. Never, ever, was there the conviction that public money could be used to support private corporations when they came unstuck through malpractice.

The banks know they have got away with this robbery once but could not do it again without public revolution and so they have contrived a new game to take away the risks their gambling increasingly lays them (and us) open to. We are told that global regulators have proposed new rules to ensure that bank creditors and not taxpayers will now pick up the bill when a bank goes bust.

I have two fundamental issues with this statement.

Firstly, what sort of environment has been created where banks can decide who will bail them out, encouraging them to continue and promote all sorts of irresponsible business practices in the certain knowledge that they will always be bailed out, rather than sensibly regulated? This is a ‘heads we win, tails you lose’ scenario which, conducted on a global scale, will surely wreck this beautiful planet and its inhabitants.

The second issue makes my blood boil because they are just laughing at us. These proposed new rules mean that they are taking our “taxpayer” hats off and replacing them with our “bank customer” hats, which re-casts us as creditors! You got it . . . When a bank goes bust now we still bail them out but with the money we have already given them and which they are supposed to be looking after for us. (It’s already happened in Greece if you remember!)

Creditor’s means money they hold for people and organisations. When they go bust these creditors are prioritised as to who gets any money back first. Customers, like you and me, come at the bottom of the list after their mates, like hedgefunds and other corporations. So, if a bank goes bust and you have:

Any ISA’s with them . . . you are screwed!

Any other investments with them . . . you are screwed!

Any savings accounts with them . . . you are screwed!

Any deposit accounts with them . . . You are screwed!

Any current accounts with them that are in credit . . . you are screwed!

“Ah, wait a minute” I can hear you saying, “What about the bank guarantee scheme that says the government will bail us out up to the tune of £85,000 when a bank goes bust?” Can’t fault your thinking BUT if this is government money, where did it come from? . . . GOT IT IN ONE . . . From our taxes . . . You are screwed again!!

I firmly believe that private banking has now become so toxic that it should be restricted to the corporate sector as a means of finance and public banks should be introduced for the sole use of the people. Today there will be a debate in parliament about private banks continuing to supply society with its money. Given how indebted government is to the international banking cartel I see this as another ‘smoke and mirrors’ exercise to kid us they are on our side. In reality they are helpless and as I have said before, no longer fit for purpose.

It is up to us to make the change. The 2015 General Election is like no other in its importance, in my opinion. We have to use our vote as never before, to take back our power and truly hold parliament accountable. Get screwed again or take charge of our lives . . . The choice is yours!

Thinking from his book: Global Magna Carta. Returning Power to The 99% . . . If They Want It!  By J T Coombes