Reaction

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The implications for the future of the banking industry of the domino effect of the great banking crises hardly bare thinking about.

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There is a mass of comment available across the UK media today and blogosphere; it is impossible not to feel a frisson of panic at the idea that not only bank machines might run out of money but also that the engine room of the British economy - that's the small business community - will soon run short of vital support from banks who could shortly be powerless to support vital lending facilities.

It has to be said that in the face of the global banking crisis the reaction of our government and that of the US could not have been more different in terms of openness.

In the US a plan was formulated in broad daylight, subjected to intensive public scrutiny and debate, put before both the US Congress and the US Senate for approval and again subject to massive debate before being approved by the democratically elected representatives of the country and put into action.

In contrast here in the UK what do we see ?

As the Banking crisis developed , our government dithered – it reacted to events rather than taking the initiative with a pro-active strategy. The main action was a series of meetings with the institutions of the European Union behind closed doors and completely misunderstood by business lobby groups and the national media.

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It is only after a closed meeting of EU finance Ministers (Ecofin) last week, we see action taken. Parliament is not consulted, there is no public debate. Both Parliament and the people are simply told what is going to happen, there is no vote, no approval just a done deal.

Therein lies the difference – on the one hand in the United States we see, with all its imperfections, a functioning democracy in action. Here in the UK by contrast, in Britain the mother country of modern democracy, we see a cabal of rulers working behind closed doors, coming out into the daylight only to inform us what they have done and how much it is going to cost us.

Thus is how we are now governed in Britain secretly, badly and from Europe.
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