Yet again Vince Cable stands atop his economists soap box and tells the City that radical changes are needed to stop banks making "excessive profits and paying big bonuses".
I've always thought that economists have too much brain and not enough practical usage and Mr Cable is a perfect example. How can someone so well schooled be so dim in the real world. The general public may have its eyes on banker’s bonuses but those of us
with a smidgeon of common sense can see that Cable wants to cut off his nose to spite his face. He insists that he wants to make a fundamental reform of the relationship between retail and investment banking. Does he really believe that a bank with purely
a retail focus can compete on a level playing field with the big foreign banks that would seize the opportunity to gobble up more business from an emaciated RBS, Barclays, Lloyds etc. This country need banks at the top table, big hitting along with the other
global players. Where does he think the money will come from to allow the massive investment required for next generation systems etc., from overdrafts and personal loans?
As for the general public that Cable is pandering to, I suspect they would have far less problem with a banker earning a bonus from profit sharing scheme than they would with a local Government mandarin earning a fat bonus for running some of the most inept
institutions in the country or for that matter an MP's expense fraud.