The Saving of the Nation

There has been a recent revival in National Savings as a direct result of the insecurity that people rightly feel about profit (or loss) making financial institutions and reminding some of us of times, better in most respects except the material, when futures were built on firm foundations.
The lamentable revelations of the financial crisis once more make clear that it is not so much institutions that are at risk but ordinary people. It is not so much government that pays as you and me. Governments have no money but ours and the same is true of the banks. Both make decisions about what to do with our money. Governments at least are elected albeit by a flawed system. If they make a mess they can be thrown out rather than bailed out. As we have discovered, much of our money entrusted to banks has been ill-used and put at dire risk.
Sooner or later the bills from both quarters come back to us as taxpayers, shareholders (directly or indirectly through pension schemes) or customers. The Government appears to think that it has pulled a fine stroke by apparently leaving banks (and the relatively innocent building societies) with part of the bill for the latest bailout. But if so they are misleading themselves and, perhaps with intent, us as well.
From whom do you think the banks will get their money back - as they surely will? From us of course through higher charges for big items such as mortgages or bread and butter transactions, foreign exchange, dubious penalties, obscure charges or further shaved rates for savings and greater disconnection to bank rate. This they can do since they conduct their affairs as a none-too-subtle cartel, competing only to extract greater profits from you and me - and indeed ordinary people abroad. The same personnel with the same corroded culture will, before long, again be looking for more ways to make a quicker quid and sowing the sleazy seeds of the next crisis/bailout.
Which is why I sincerely hope that the recent revival of National Savings grows and becomes permanent. And I hope that the government, when it hears the wailing from the banks, does not set tighter limits or deliberately dismal rates. It would be ideal if NS was complemented by municipal initiatives, but there is not the will to do this at present. I hope also that the Post Office prospers, with its savings side outsourced, to the surprise of many, to the Bank of Ireland and so at least benefiting from the Irish Government’s 100% savings guarantee. It could be well worth waiting in the queues at those post offices still open and reflecting on the times when there were principles as well as profits worth fighting for - principles that underpinned the saving of the nation.