Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, on Thursday admitted there was nothing British regulators could do to stop banks cutting back lending in order to help meet the new global capital requirements being imposed on them.
You can\’t both insist that banks have more capital and that they expand their loan books at the same time. They\’re mutually exclusive policies.
Doesn\’t stop all sorts of people insisting upon both of course but then much of politics is based upon people not understanding what are economically mutually exclusive policies or actions.
They’re not actually mutually exclusive unless you assume no new capital can be raised (you know, increase deposits, sell shares, issue debt, sell a subsidiary). It could be coherent to argue for both, but the people who argue for both usually aren’t.
And, of course, you’ve got to tax the bankers more too….
Lord Turner is a twat.
I can do nothing more than agree wholeheartedly with dearieme.
He has always been like that. Besides mutually contradictory policies government policy now.
Sorry all, it should read “are government policy now”.