This is a bit of a delayed reaction post, in response to the news that Gordon Brown has offered Barclays (amongst other banks) a #7.5 billion refinancing package to get themselves out of their sticky financial situation.
This is the same Barclays that three years ago pushed my company Red Letter Days into administration on the grounds that we were an 'unacceptable risk' and they had to 'answer to their shareholders' - despite the fact they held #4.3 million in cash and other securities against a liability which eventually proved to be little more than #1million.
The same Barclays (which I have since learned through the numerous emails I have received from other entrepreneurs) which has the worst reputation of ANY UK BANK for ruthlessly pulling the plug on great British businesses which could otherwise have been saved.
The same Barclays that just two years ago posted a #7 BILLION PROFIT.
The same Barclays that just TWO WEEKS AGO danced Lehmans up the garden path - only to withdraw at the 11th hour and then go back in to cherry pick the assets, like a graverobber picking over the contents of the coffin while the corpse was still warm.
The fact that we are now offering #7.5 billion of TAXPAYERS' MONEY to bail this greedy, power hungry, ruthless bank out of financial difficulty is a total and utter disgrace and insult to the British people.
I say LET BARCLAYS CRASH - as they have allowed (forced?) so many other UK businesses to crash - then pick the entire business out of administration, sell off the assets and use the #7.5 billion (if it is needed) to supplement any funds which are needed to ensure depositors' monies are protected.
Give the b*stards a taste of their own medicine.
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34 comments:
Yeah, and let all the others go bust also, same as any business really isn't, no one bails us out so why should bail them out, tough suffer like others do, you made the mistakes you pay for them, NOT US.
ANd that is not a you as in you Rachel I hasten to add, it is a you as in the BANK.
DLOG
They don't expect to get a taste of their own medicine Rachel.
They and the other banks are blackmailing the general public, using the governments of the day.
This is the most blatant and provocative act by commercial enterprise ever. This is a true admission of who has the power.
What i say and what i know is that they are not going to get away with it.
People are waking up to what they
are up to and they realize that they are going to have to adapt their own methods and philosophies in doing business in the future.
So adapt we must and adapt we will and i look forward to being on of those people who own more of the money systems than they do.
When they commit fraud it is outside the legal framework.
When the general public commit fraud it is inside the legal framework.
So the question is... how do we know they committed fraud?
First...Here is a definition of the word fraud via the WIKI.
"Fraud is a deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual."
So we know that banks have personally gained from the crisis because they have been bailed out.
We also know that many individuals (both savers and non savers) will be damaged.
Now we need to prove deception.
You will find evidence of deception by asking the IMF or other economic think-tanks for risk models, predicting that such an event would result in inevitable bail out.
The banks knew they were safe. The only question is "which banks should we let fall and which banks should we use to consolidate other bank assets.
absolute disgrace.
Rachel
As you well know, letting Barclays fail would have a catastrophic impact on lots of innocent businesses. Barclays may not treat small businesses well but bankrupting a significant proportion of their customers to satisfy your anger seems a bit extreme.
A woman scorned and all that!
C
I can't see how you think Rachel has some sort of vendetta against Barclays, she is obviously peeved with them, but no doubt she uses different bankers now, so Barclays have lost out from her anyway! But why should we, the Tax payer bail them out, if it was your company or anyone elses for that matter, would the Tax payer/Government bail you out, um, I don't think so. They cocked-up so let them crash, they have had enough out of me, and many others no doubt.
DLOG
Sounds like you can only see a way forward C by maintaining the failures of the passed.
You would support a crooked regime, just to maintain the status quo.
Well i say to hell with it. I don't see why we should carry on making a rod for our own backs. Carrying these institutions would only prove an even greater undoing somewhere down the road.
Get rid of the wasters and black mailers i say.
I would sooner live in a world of greater uncertainty with people who i can trust, than less uncertainty with people i know i could never trust.
It doesn't seem to be sinking in does it? What has happened is that we have been proven right all along.
The world is run by sharp practice merchants.
"I can't see how you think Rachel has some sort of vendetta against Barclays"
Possibly the funniest thing to appear on this blog so far. You did read her book or the blog I take it.
C
C,
I don't speak for anyone else but me.
How Rachel feels about Barclay's is a matter for Rachel.
Anything i say on this blog is in no way endorsed by anyone else, least of all Rachel.
I can't think why you are amused at these circumstances. I can only think you are either a ruthless bastard or a bit of silly head.
Or perhaps both.
Stephen
I was laughing at the quoted comment from DLOG. There is ample evidence on this blog to make people think that Rachel might have less than charitable intentions towards Barclays. I am not saying she has I am just saying there is evidence to suggest she has.
C
Of course I don't like Barclays! I have suffered at their hands - and so have a lot of other entrepreneurs.
They are the ultimate 'Alpha Male' business - all about money, greed and power. No wonder their corporate symbol is a vulture.
We are all now having to pay the price for their greed.
This extreme capitalistic approach as exemplified by Barclays is simply unsustainable - and what we are now seeing in the financial markets is evidence of that.
Well when you spend the best part of your life building something and then by some slight of hand it is wrestled from your clutches - how do you expect that person to feel?
Its a f* travesty.
Worse thing of all is when that something you created - lives on without you. It is persecution of the worse kind. Especially when you know the new owners are going to screw it up.
The only way i can describe it is having your baby stolen from you and then having to watch it being abused by its new parents.
I can't imagine why Rachel would feel anything less than loss and pain under such circumstances. But we should all applaud her for dusting herself off, having lots of new babies and getting back in the mix again.
To be frank, i wouldn't do it again. And to be honest - i don't.
Building a business is waste of good people. Sooner have nothing.
By the way, I would highly recommend any business which is banking with Barclays (or any of the other banks in trouble - Lloyds, HBOS, RBS/NatWest) to move its account IMMEDIATELY to HSBC.
Not just because they sponsor me, but because they have HUGE cash reserves and a good spread of international wealth.
Your money is much safer with HSBC, they are still lending and they also have a much more ethical approach to businesses which get into trouble.
C, Vendetta was traditionally a word used by the Mafia, I hardy think that Rachel is Mafia, do you, or for that matter in a position to wage a vendetta against Barclays, but I doubt she would lose sleep over them if they did go down.
Unfortunately though in my new additional role as treasurer I have to use Barclays, at least for now anyway, but no doubt that when all mandates have been signed sealed and delivered, and everything is in my hands, I will probably move to a different bank!
DLOG
PS Don't know what happend to my previous comment, just before Rachels! Maybe that synchronicity thing kicked in and we both hit the button at the same time!!
DLOG
Hello! The "Let's Blindly Follow Rachel Society" are out again in the form of Stephen and DLOG. Can't you idiots think for yourselves!
Rachel would like to see Barlcays go to the wall to make her feel better and sod the thousands of innocent Barclays business customers.
Yes, Rachel you really are fighting the corner of small business, we are all safer with you on our side (not)!
"Vendetta was traditionally a word used by the Mafia, I hardy think that Rachel is Mafia" - what drivel! DLOG, are you eight years old or just insane?
You sound frightened Mr A Dragon.
Pot shotting all over the show.
I know you want to maintain the status quo, because it is safer, but events have been so extraordinary, that we must rise to the challenge.
We cannot let those who have legislated for these events to happen, get away with it. There must be a stand by someone, somehow.
Mr A dragon, I give my opinions of what I believe, they just so happen to fit in with Rachels views, that is a normal thing in life, thats why people get on with each other, or do you mix with those who you despise?
And no I am not 8 yrs old, but I am a F@&^$ing nutter, SO WATCH OUT!!
If you don't like what you read on here why oh why do you post comments?
I and others enjoy posting comments here, thats why we do it, and yes we don't always see eye to eye, but that is what it is all about.
DLOG
oops, forgot Mr A Dragon, "what drivel! DLOG", well if it's drivel, you obviously think she is the Mafia then. Sad bastard you are then.
And another thing motor mouth, who the hell are you anyway, posting and keeping anonymous, scared of something are we?
DLOG
Mr A Dragon
Yes I am on the side of British Business, that's why I don't recommend Barclays as a bank; you never think about this when you run a business 'What If?' and its not until its too late do you realise you picked the wrong bank.
Your choice of bank can make the difference between business survival or failure.
I would advise any business that banks with Barclays to switch before its too late. And let's face it, the next 18 months are going to be tough for everyone.
We did once write a send up of Chas and Dave's 'Margate' - the title of the song is unprintable, but suffice to say that the lyrics contained cockney rhyming couplets that included the words 'Barclays Bank, J Arthur Rank and so on.
I hear Barclays are in trouble...
The higher they climb...
No doubt our great Goverment will soon start 'Bank Aid' to collect money for ex bankers!
Rock on!
Peter
Yes and no prizes for guessing who's money they'll be using for this bail out!
BTW - If you are a reader of 'The Week' you might have noticed a little column that mentions insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor stating they have their eyes on over 300 retailers due to go bust after Christmas -
Can't believe they'd sit and salivate over something like that - somehow visions of vultures encircling springs to mind...
These are tough times which will only be tougher if we allow ourselves to believe it.
Anne
I'd like to see a bank of the people, for the people.
This bail out money should be invested in creating a bank of the people, for the people.
It should never be used to shore up commercial enterprise. It never has been before.
Now I may be wrong but, I think the Islamic world have a banking system like that Stephen, perhaps someone could confirm?
It seems to work well, if I am correct.
DLOG
This is taken from the Independent newspaper, January 2009.
It's the fastest-growing sector of the banking industry, yet few City boys know much about it and hardly any finance students are being taught it. But Islamic banking's mysteries are now beginning to be unveiled and recently a business school and an accountancy body have announced new postgraduate programmes specialising in it.
There are more than 250 Islamic banks worldwide, with at least £300bn in assets, up from £5bn in 1985. Small fry in the global economy, but growing at an astonishing 15 to 20 per cent a year. Rising oil prices and Europe's growing Muslim population are driving an extraordinary surge in financial products compliant with Islamic law, eschewing interest and respecting Islamic ethical norms in investment.
Just a few years ago, Islamic banks stood accused of funding terrorism. Now Gordon Brown has promoted London as a hub for Islamic finance, three British Islamic banks have been set up, and big players such as HSBC and Lloyds TSB have started offering Islamic financial products and services. To train bankers to develop these products, Bangor University's business school is starting up a fully fledged Islamic banking Masters this September, the only university so far to offer one.
Islamic banking is, on the surface, something of a paradox. Islam forbids usury, the accumulation of interest, the cornerstone of the banking system. And holy law also prohibits Muslims from profiting from taboo industries, such as alcohol, gambling, and pornography
sorry, meant to say January 2008...doh!
Thanks for that Hani, I have often heard about how these Muslim/Islamic banks work and I might add, I have spoken to several Muslims who use the these banks, for business, but one never quite knows how much truth there is in it, that is why I did not want to commit myself to much on here, you know I may well have been condemed again by some rude and unscrupulous 'A Dragon' again, so I am going all shy now, 'not'.
DLOG
We already have a 'bank of the people for the people.'
It's called the National Blood Service or the Blood Bank to give it its colloquial name.
It is literally a bank of the people for the people.
C
Our Leaders live in the base unconscious mind.
The markets are summed up as composite elements of physical, intellectual and emotional vehicles.
In short, the markets operate in the unconscious mind.
If they would were managed by conscious beings then we would never be in this mess.
We would never be in this mess because they would have had the sensitivity to re-adjust to the prevailing winds.
Unfortunately it seems, we are either lead by crooks or unwise people.
Or maybe both.
We have all watched the news and heard the horror stories and after all the dust beings to settle, which may be some time yet - what will get the World's financial system back on track?
It will be left the courage and inspiration of Entrepreneurs to do what they do best.. Innovation and Creation.
We may not be able to control what happens now but we need to protect and have due diligence now for what happens tomorrow.
I personally bank with Lloyds and they have battened down every hatch in respect of funding for businesses.
We may be out in the cold right now but i for one will keep fighting.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Best Regards
Bradley
www.millionimpossible.com
www.millionimpossiblemagazine.com
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going".
That presumes that the dice aren't loaded against you by a corrupt system. This statement held up under a free market regime that at least tried to ensure the crooks stayed out.
But under the current regime where systems are clearly run by frightened, desperate and unethical people - getting tough is clearly all about trying to fight your way out of a paper bag.
I for one am sick of playing anyone else's crooked game. Call it bitter, call it what you like but i will not operate in this kind of regime.
So i will sit and be untough and watch for people who are worth doing business with.
Stephen
From your posts it appears you have suffered some big knock back in your business past. It happens and it can be grossly unfair when it does.
However, it is your choice as to the extent you let this define you. As you have said before, there is only now and you can choose your state of mind within it.
I know its a trite phrase but I think it is true that the darkest hours are just before the dawn.
C
You got it C.
Got a lot of scars.
People come first now and i do business on my terms now. With my eyes wide open. I thank those who can only operate in crooked ways, they have taught me a lot.
I will not operate in a world defined by crooks.
So i will wait it out until the world decides to grow up. If it does not, then i will find other things to do.
Rachel. quite an insightful note. thanks for letting me know about barclays and hsbc. it's shocking to hear that barclays is behaving like that.
i am one of your fans also because you believe in harmonism and law of attraction. this post in my opinion seems to be contradicting harmonism.
it seems you still have a lot of anger towards barclays and that could attract more "negative" banks toward you (?) although you seem to have found hsbc as the answer.
i stand by what you believe in and thanks for opening my eyes about barclays
davide
Davide
I believe in Harmonism but I'm not saying I'm perfect!
Yes I do have a lot of anger towards Barclays as well as generally towards what is going on in the world! I do also believe there needs to be a breaking down of the old order for a new way to come in.
Meantime will keep attending the anger management courses...
R
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