It Goes From Bad to Worse!
RBS
In a completely passive demonstration of non-government and how toothless our government’s words are, it’s now been shown that not only does former RBS gaffer, Fred Goodwin get a massive pension of ~£33k monthly take-home, but the pot from which it’s being taken is already £2 billion under-funded!!
The staggering gauze of deceit that’s been drifted across all our eyes for the last decade is now settling like the odious juices emanating from a rotting corpse.
Not content with bringing his company down by his gambling habit, Goodwin has emptied the pension pot to boot! Funnily enough, he omitted to mention any of this when he was recently questioned … And No. The bank he was boss of was not one of the world’s top five banks – it only seemed that way for a few years and was actually completely bankrupt because the continual fraudulent gambling activities at his instigation. And he doesn’t deserve any of his pay because of these actions. (e.g. profit one year, ~£20bn; profit next year, -£27bn and a reduction in assets of £325bn. If a chip shop was run like this it’s comparable to selling one portion and then losing the shop. Idiot!). He in fact deserves a big kick up the arse and chucking in the River Tyne with the tide going out. Certainly, a minimal pension is the most he should get as none of his actions from sacking staff (Fred the Shred indeed!) to bankrupting secure businesses are worthy of any recognition apart from sanction.
Royal(!) Mail & Government
In a similar process of subterfuge, the Royal Mail workers have been told that the only way to save the company (because it’s short of cash), is by ditching their pensions, flogging their cream business to leeches and flogging the rest of themselves off, making the “service” even less relevant and thus slowly to die …
The reasons for the Royal Mail money shortage are not rooted in today’s events. They are because of the actions, starting with the 90s Tory government, of having a “pensions holiday”. Because Royal Mail didn’t contribute for years at this time, the pot got smaller.
- Q. So what happened to the “spare” money?
- A. It was used to stoke up the general finances of the country because we were in a … ahem … recession, housing slump, deja vu …
Check out This Google Search for the term “pensions holiday”. There are >4600 results! This action is used (legally, but not morally) to allow companies to excuse themselves from their financial obligations.
Suggestions for H.M. Government:
- DON’T ask Fred Goodwin for the money back. Take it! He has absolutely no right to it. If the company had collapsed as it should’ve done because of his gambling fits, he’d be entitled to a pension of ~£20k
- STRIP Fred Goodwin of his knighthood. The honoured term does not apply to him. Dunce’s cap, more like.
- Put the money owed to the Royal Mail Pension Fund back and then redo the calculations to see if it’s a profitable business.
- Demand Royal Mail competitors charge fairly for a demonstrably comparable service to Royal Mail i.e. door-to-door, last mile, a proper network of easily accessible offices country-wide all within walking distance of 90% of the UK population. Then redo the sums as above…
- Retrospectively apply all new charges and limitations to action for the financial institutions that have brought the country to it’s knees. Sanctions to be applied similarly. (e.g. Consider what the Chinese, our great business partners now, would do?)
- Get anyone who was in charge during the recent meltdown and fraud debacle out. Make them sweep streets if necessary but in no way let them anywhere near a bank! (see Chinese comment above)
- And now, MOST IMPORTANTLY, get all the stolen, fraudulent, sequestered, scammed money from offshore banking and put it into general circulation where it came from in the first place! As I’ve said previously, USE our military strength, VISIT Jersey, The Caymans, Bermuda, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Belize etc and GET OUR MONEY BACK!
- If anyone complains – tough. Try and be a government for once. We don’t need toothless whitewashing inquiries. We don’t need words. We need action. They took it all from us – so take it back!
- Don’t make Goodwin the only scapegoat. There are plenty more like him, all cosily keeping quiet until the storm blows over..
- Finally, don’t expect us taxpayers, the public, to pick up the tab without a decent amount of heads on the chopping block. In the same way that Goodwin refuses to hand over his ill-gotten dosh, don’t expect me to pay for his pension and his failures. You can only push the public so far. Eventually, right will out, no matter how many weasely words and pledges for fairness are made. The people aren’t blind and they’re not as stupid as they sometimes appear. This week we’ve seen mutiny and deaths against unfairness and corruption in Pakistan. In 1979 the Shah of Iran was overthrown in a popular uprising. In 1789, the people had had enough in France. To think that in 2009 this society is in some way sacred and immune to internal strife is ignorant in the extreme.
Further Reading:
- RBS pension scheme has £2bn black hole
- Mandelson: Royal Mail part-privatisation is ‘only credible option’
- RBS reports record corporate loss
- King attacks Labour over credit spree (pot calling the kettle black…) It was and still is, KING IN CHARGE, ha ha!
- Regulators accused of ‘dithering’
- Bank regulation approach ‘wrong’
- Ex-RBS chief should renounce pension, says Darling
- Sentences for fraud too short, judges told
- FSA Drafts Code for Pay and Bonuses, Avoids Caps
- A Military Way out of The Credit Crunch
- Government to insure toxic assets
