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Is banking immoral?

Would we be better off without the bankers and spivs that occupy the City of London?

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Reply 1
Avatar for Damask-
Damask-
16
Some of the bankers may be immoral but it doesn't mean the practice itself is.
Reply 2
Avatar for ForKicks
ForKicks
12
What would you suggest? We get rid of a huge proportion of the UK's income? :s-smilie:
Reply 3
Avatar for chefdave
chefdave
OP
Original post by ForKicks
What would you suggest? We get rid of a huge proportion of the UK's income? :s-smilie:


I think it's foolish to depend on accountancy and gambling for our major source of income. A genuine question; what value does the City of London add to the economy?

While I wouldn't like to see the end of the high street bank I think we'd certainly benefit from a general shift toward manufacturing and other non-financial related services. As a proportion of GDP we're definitely too financial heavy.
Reply 4
Avatar for ForKicks
ForKicks
12
Original post by chefdave
I think it's foolish to depend on accountancy and gambling for our major source of income. A genuine question; what value does the City of London add to the economy?

While I wouldn't like to see the end of the high street bank I think we'd certainly benefit from a general shift toward manufacturing and other non-financial related services. As a proportion of GDP we're definitely too financial heavy.


The big banks, about £33 billion a year. As a country the City of London is our biggest asset and makes us a competitive international center of finance. If we focus on something like manufacturing and severely limit banking, we would have a lot less money!
Reply 5
Avatar for chefdave
chefdave
OP
Original post by Axion
no, bankers are an integral part of every country.


A country needs a banking system, granted. But do we need one that requires endless bailouts, government guarantees and other related subsidies from the taxpayer? Look at the Eurozone for example, entire countries such as Greece have been sacrificed to prop up the banking system and this is causing mass civil unrest all along the mediterranean. I'm not blaming the bankers for the Western economic crisis of course, but I think we'd benefit from less debt coupled with a less active financial sector. A large banking sector is a symptom of allowing debt to spiral out of control, I don't consider this A Good Thing.
(edited 11 years ago)
Many people in banking are decent honest people. We just need to ensure those who are not face criminal proceedings and if found guilty, a prison sentence.
Reply 7
Avatar for MTR_10
MTR_10
14
Original post by Damask-
Some of the bankers may be immoral but it doesn't mean the practice itself is.


Banking inevitably involves immoral behaviour as we are seeing today.
Original post by ForKicks
The big banks, about £33 billion a year. As a country the City of London is our biggest asset and makes us a competitive international center of finance. If we focus on something like manufacturing and severely limit banking, we would have a lot less money!


Lose the 'we' and replace it with the 'financial elite'.
Reply 8
Avatar for userofTSR
userofTSR
banking isnt immoral its just some of the people who do it
Reply 9
Avatar for chefdave
chefdave
OP
Original post by ForKicks
The big banks, about £33 billion a year. As a country the City of London is our biggest asset and makes us a competitive international center of finance. If we focus on something like manufacturing and severely limit banking, we would have a lot less money!


Not in terms of £s but in terms of value added. If I turn up to the hairdressers the value they add is the difference between a haircut I don't like and and one that I do, we can express the price I pay in terms of £s but this isn't the same thing as the service they offer.

Speficially, what service do the bankers offer? What do they do that makes them so special?
Reply 10
Avatar for cl_steele
cl_steele
2
well im assuming youre talking about the IB, traders, salesmen etc. etc. for the bulge bracket kind of banks not your nice little natwest bank teller?

In a word yes ... the people who do the trading are immoral bastards who are out to make a nice commission they couldnt give a monkeys what happens after theyve made their pay packet, case in point what happened with BT when they successfully 'blew up' several customersof theirs through their derivitive salesmen selling them P.E.A.R.L.S and then Morgan Stanley selling their delightful PLUS notes and other such odd financial instruments ... these things cost people and companies and absolute ****ing fortune! i mean back in '94 P&G lost several hundred million dollars through dealings with BT and some of the tapes they got in the courts of what the salesmen from BT were saying essentually equated to them going out of their way to '**** them', 'rip their faces off' and that they essentually could not give a toss what happened to them after theyd knowingly sold them exploding derivitives [which were for the most part illegal anyway] so yes that particular breed of banker is immoral but then again banks employ a lot of people so it depends what you want to call your banker, as i said i quite like my local branch manager, nice chap.
Would we be better off without them though? No. they make up a huge part of our economy and whilst they might have cost us a bit recently i'll guarentee theyve made far far more than that for the UK in the past and will od in the future.
Reply 11
Avatar for Hackett
Hackett
14
Original post by chefdave
A country needs a banking system, granted. But do we need one that requires endless bailouts, government guarantees and other related subsidies from the taxpayer? Look at the Eurozone for example, entire countries such as Greece have been sacrificed to prop up the banking system and this is causing mass civil unrest all along the mediterranean. I'm not blaming the bankers for the Western economic crisis of course, but I think we'd benefit from less debt coupled with a less active financial sector. A large banking sector is a symptom of allowing debt to spiral out of control, I don't consider this A Good Thing.


Stop being so goddam naive. You get all this crappy info from the media which again spins out the same old bulls*** because it sells. Banking and the City of London as a whole are very important. There haven't been "endless" bailouts, there have been 1. You want to know why Spain etc. are in such a dire state? Look at the Government, look at the EU, not the banking sector.

It's important that you don't take everything you read in the papers as gospel, because beleive me when I am reading the evening standard, I'm staggered by the lack of actual information and the amount of crap about banking that gets spun into a story.

Another thing which doesn't help, is out even more incompetent MP's. Example: Vince Cable, our BUSINESS (!) secretary on the Andrew Marr show this morning, moaning about Investment Banking (or 'Casino' Banking how he likes to call it, again emphasising his complete lack of awareness) The guy has not worked in the industry, doesn't know how it operates and yet is instigating what happens to the banks and is filling the minds of the general public with the same ould crap because it is what people want to hear.

The City has a major part to play in the UK. Dumbing it down would be suicide to Britian and to our general competiveness, we don't do manufacuting anymore due to the EM countries, so Britian has and will continue to invest in Financial services.

All I can say is please don't be mislead by the Media and politicians becuase they don't know s*** quite frankly.
Reply 12
Avatar for ForKicks
ForKicks
12
Original post by chefdave
Not in terms of £s but in terms of value added. If I turn up to the hairdressers the value they add is the difference between a haircut I don't like and and one that I do, we can express the price I pay in terms of £s but this isn't the same thing as the service they offer.

Speficially, what service do the bankers offer? What do they do that makes them so special?


Really? You don't think the tax of them adds value to the country by contributing to education, healthcare, defence, and everything the state provides? They make lots of money, that is what makes them special.
Reply 13
Avatar for chefdave
chefdave
OP
Original post by ForKicks
Really? You don't think the tax of them adds value to the country by contributing to education, healthcare, defence, and everything the state provides? They make lots of money, that is what makes them special.


So you don't actually know what the bankers do but you're prepared to defend them anyway? :confused:
Reply 14
Avatar for Herr
Herr
13
Banking is an essential part of any functioning economy. For everyone it may have harmed there are millions of others who may have been helped.
Reply 15
Avatar for Hackett
Hackett
14
Original post by chefdave
Not in terms of £s but in terms of value added. If I turn up to the hairdressers the value they add is the difference between a haircut I don't like and and one that I do, we can express the price I pay in terms of £s but this isn't the same thing as the service they offer.

Speficially, what service do the bankers offer? What do they do that makes them so special?


This highlights everything that is wrong with MP's, the media, the general public at the moment. They think Banking as whole is bad, yet not actually knowing what they do? How can you make that judgement without knowing nothing about it?
Reply 16
Avatar for chefdave
chefdave
OP
Original post by Hackett
Stop being so goddam naive. You get all this crappy info from the media which again spins out the same old bulls*** because it sells. Banking and the City of London as a whole are very important. There haven't been "endless" bailouts, there have been 1. You want to know why Spain etc. are in such a dire state? Look at the Government, look at the EU, not the banking sector.

It's important that you don't take everything you read in the papers as gospel, because beleive me when I am reading the evening standard, I'm staggered by the lack of actual information and the amount of crap about banking that gets spun into a story.

Another thing which doesn't help, is out even more incompetent MP's. Example: Vince Cable, our BUSINESS (!) secretary on the Andrew Marr show this morning, moaning about Investment Banking (or 'Casino' Banking how he likes to call it, again emphasising his complete lack of awareness) The guy has not worked in the industry, doesn't know how it operates and yet is instigating what happens to the banks and is filling the minds of the general public with the same ould crap because it is what people want to hear.

The City has a major part to play in the UK. Dumbing it down would be suicide to Britian and to our general competiveness, we don't do manufacuting anymore due to the EM countries, so Britian has and will continue to invest in Financial services.

All I can say is please don't be mislead by the Media and politicians becuase they don't know s*** quite frankly.


I'll respond to your diatribe later, I have to go out right now.
I think the banking system we have is inherently unstable and that is the problem with it.

The problem is not bankers or bad people. The problem is the money system itself.


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App
Reply 18
Avatar for ForKicks
ForKicks
12
Original post by chefdave
So you don't actually know what the bankers do but you're prepared to defend them anyway? :confused:


I don't care what they do with regards to trading and lending, as long as they bring money to the country they can do what they like :tongue:
Original post by chefdave

Speficially, what service do the bankers offer? What do they do that makes them so special?


Basically, bankers facilitate the lending of money from those who have it to those who want it. Be that you with a mortgage, or a new business in need of investment. They decide who to give it to, rates to charge, etc.
(edited 11 years ago)

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