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Edinburgh Financial Crisis Protest: "We wont pay for your crisis!

Forums Life Money Edinburgh Financial Crisis Protest: "We wont pay for your crisis!

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  • “We Wont Pay for Your Crisis!” Edinburgh is set to have a demonstration against the government’s criminal bank bailout, at the Corporate Headquarters of HBOS.

    People all around Scotland are angered by the huge amount of taxpayers money planned to be spent on bailing out the very banks that have caused this crisis, and this demonstration is sure to attract a large crowd as a result.
    hbos_mound_bryce_114.jpgThe top of the Mound in Edinburgh’s Old Town is a symbolic and apt choice of rally point for this protest, with the corporate headquarters of HBOS (one of the crisis banks set to be bailed) out and the High Court just across the road. HBOS even has a public “Museum of Money” in its building.
    Interestingly, the protest seems to have first been announced on a facebook group called “We wont pay for your crisis”, and begun by a person calling themselves Tom Joad, a character from John Steinbeck’s ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, who is angered and radicalised by the 1930’s the economic crisis and exploitation of that time.
    The description of the facebook group states: “The banks are being bailed out with £500 billion of our money. This is 5 times what the government spends on the NHS per year. Due to the greed of the bankers and speculators, there will be rising unemployment, lowering of wages, rising bills, public services cuts. Let’s meet at HBOS headquarters on the Mound and tell them that they won’t get away with this robbery.”
    410380.jpgThis planned protest comes quickly in the wake of a lively student and Socialist Worker Party demonstration about the financial crisis in the centre of the City of London on Friday 10th. The Edinburgh protest no doubt aims to be a similarly heated event.
    We can all see that the militant rhetoric of the facebook group is correct. Ordinary people like ourselves will get hit twice by the governments plans to rescue the banks – Firstly, we, the ordinary people, are paying for the bailout – this will happen through higher taxes. service cuts and benefit cuts. These things hit those who cant afford it hardest.
    Not only will we have to spend our tax money to correct the mistakes of the greedy bankers, but Secondly the economic collapse, that they caused, will mean that we cant afford our repayments on our mortgages and secured loans. This is because this crisis will will mean that we will lose our jobs, wages, pensions and benefits, and we will see a rise in the cost of living, making ordinary people poorer. This means that for many of us our homes are now at risk of repossession from those same banks we will be bailing out.

    Instead, what should be happening is that our £500 billion be used to guarantee that our homes will not be repossessed, that our jobs wont be lost, and wages wont be cut. However, with this bailout plan, the banks will be getting our tax money, and our homes, and most likely aim to continue business as usual. This is criminal!
    See you at 5pm on the 24th, at the top of the mound.

    Banks are shit.

    i dout many people attending are even remotely qualified to comment on the incredibly complex financial situation, let alone believe they know how to fix the problem. or is it just another down with capitalism type student demo?

    I still think its a good idea to go and demonstrate, I dont think you need to be an economics expert to say that something seems to be very wrong when the government is bailing out massive multinational corporations with billions of pounds????!!!

    I think these institutions have contributed to causing so much damage to society over the last 20-30 years at least and its just seems so wrong that us and our kids are going to be sadled with this debt for them. Certain people in government and banks should be being held accountable for this…perhaps even up in court, not bailed out, they seem to be getting off scott free.

    coastie;240519 wrote:
    I still think its a good idea to go and demonstrate, I dont think you need to be an economics expert to say that something seems to be very wrong when the government is bailing out massive multinational corporations with billions of pounds????!!!

    I think these institutions have contributed to causing so much damage to society over the last 20-30 years at least and its just seems so wrong that us and our kids are going to be sadled with this debt for them. Certain people in government and banks should be being held accountable for this…perhaps even up in court, not bailed out, they seem to be getting off scott free.

    tis a good point, but what happens if the banks rnt proped up and they colapse (while the other countrys support their banks)? I dunno but im not sure i wanna find out either. But fuck knows its a bloody mess and i certainly havnt got a clue, but i do hate the way the fat cats are still fat and on top of that are about to be given 30 pints of full fat cream. sorry if im not making sense so very tired.

    coastie;240519 wrote:
    I still think its a good idea to go and demonstrate, I dont think you need to be an economics expert to say that something seems to be very wrong when the government is bailing out massive multinational corporations with billions of pounds????!!!

    Indeed, we all have a voice but we wont be heard if we stay silent :bounce_fl



    We are living in a fractured society.
    Our citizens and communities suffer from the financial burdens of unsustainable action (war) and we are entering a time where fear, security and threat are constant.
    We are extremely concerned about our natural habitat and receive conflicting information relating to the impacts of global change.
    It is blatantly evident that our
    Governments are not standing up to challenges
    in a way that encourages overall public confidence
    and social stability.
    It is with regret that there is little to suggest that our government is addressing deep community concerns,in particular ‘future for our next generations’.
    Therefore, friends, colleagues we have until
    Novemeber 1st 2008 to organise ourselves, make clear what information and actions we require at grassroots and deliver these to our governments in a concise and orderly manner. We must have voice !!!

    The.UK.Peasants.Revolt.will.be.a.
    Peaceful.Protest.
    of.Individuals.and Communities.
    that.will.Represent.the.Voices.
    of.the.UK.Populations.
    that.Would.Choose.to.Live.a.Lifestyle.
    that.is.in.Keeping.with.the.
    Concept.of.Sustainable.Development

    A3posterPR2008copy.jpg

    photographthesun;240420 wrote:
    i dout many people attending are even remotely qualified to comment on the incredibly complex financial situation, let alone believe they know how to fix the problem. or is it just another down with capitalism type student demo?

    i agree that its not as simple as the statement suggests. :hopeless:

    extreme free marketeers would agree that all the banks should be allowed to fail, after all, the market will sort it out! Are these socialists agreeing with the right wing ideologues who got us in this position, in the first place?

    letting the worlds financial system collapse (however imperfect it is, and clearly it is fucked up), would, i feel, would have guaranteed not just recession, but the first ever truly global depression, 1930’s style and worse.

    the move to nationalise the banks is in fact ‘socialism’ attempting to dig the free market out of the hole that it dug for itself! George Bush has overseen the biggest nationalisation in the history of the world… and he is a right wing, pro-deregulation, Republican! no wonder he looks pissed off! :weee:

    in terms of who can we string up, i think we should not just be looking at the at the bankers (altho clearly some legal action against them seems appropriate), but the market regulators. The FSA (Financial Services Authority), the credit rating agencies etc. who have clearly fucked up big time.

    Of course the regulators/Bankers will partly blame the politicians who pushed thru the deregulation, and therefore allowed these insane practices, in the first place! :yakk:

    and who voted those politicians in? and who has been enjoying the fruits of this unsustainable boom?… :hopeless:

    at least in the US they can vote for the Obama, and send the Republicans into the political wilderness. Here in the UK, its much more difficult for us to get satisfaction, at the ballot box. Unfortunately the Labour party gave up socialism a long time ago, but at least Gordon intervened, leading the world towards some stability, when the shit hit the fan.

    whilst i’m well up for demonstrating about this totally fucked up system, i’m afraid that simplistic solutions are just pissing in the wind…

    marcusblanc;240912 wrote:
    i agree that its not as simple as the statement suggests. :hopeless:

    extreme free marketeers would agree that all the banks should be allowed to fail, after all, the market will sort it out! Are these socialists agreeing with the right wing ideologues who got us in this position, in the first place?

    letting the worlds financial system collapse (however imperfect it is, and clearly it is fucked up), would, i feel, would have guaranteed not just recession, but the first ever truly global depression, 1930’s style and worse.

    the move to nationalise the banks is in fact ‘socialism’ attempting to dig the free market out of the hole that it dug for itself! George Bush has overseen the biggest nationalisation in the history of the world… and he is a right wing, pro-deregulation, Republican! no wonder he looks pissed off! :weee:

    in terms of who can we string up, i think we should not just be looking at the at the bankers (altho clearly some legal action against them seems appropriate), but the market regulators. The FSA (Financial Services Authority), the credit rating agencies etc. who have clearly fucked up big time.

    Of course the regulators/Bankers will partly blame the politicians who pushed thru the deregulation, and therefore allowed these insane practices, in the first place! :yakk:

    and who voted those politicians in? and who has been enjoying the fruits of this unsustainable boom?… :hopeless:

    at least in the US they can vote for the Obama, and send the Republicans into the political wilderness. Here in the UK, its much more difficult for us to get satisfaction, at the ballot box. Unfortunately the Labour party gave up socialism a long time ago, but at least Gordon intervened, leading the world towards some stability, when the shit hit the fan.

    whilst i’m well up for demonstrating about this totally fucked up system, i’m afraid that simplistic solutions are just pissing in the wind…

    *nods in agreement* I think greed is to blamn really, which is a part of human nature, so if we blamn anyone we should blamn humanity.

    “True but unhelpfull” – a wise man (douglas adams hehe)

    photographthesun;240899 wrote:
    tis a good point, but what happens if the banks rnt proped up and they colapse (while the other countrys support their banks)? I dunno but im not sure i wanna find out either.

    Yeah definately I do agree. But I was just thinking that unfortunately many of the major changes in history have come after some sort of major upheaval, so proping up the current system might only help it continue.

    Its a really difficult one though. Its easy for me to sit here and say this stuff, but if such an upheaval happended it would have very real consequences for real people. The outcomes of such upheavals are not always positive either, Germanys in the 1930’s likely played a large part in the formation of fasicsm, whereas the same experience for the U.S in the 1930s lead to the New Deal (a good thing imo).

    I think the top bankers and industrialists know that the legitimacy of their system may come under threat if there was a massive crash, and are calooding with governments to prop up the system that they both profit from.

    The government has not pushed for a seat on the board of the banks and talk of a future review of banking regulations is only talk at the moment. So Im not really sure if nationalisation is the right word. When the banks where on their knees was the time to push through change, theyll resist any future regulation fiercely (when theyll be in a stronger position too) and so I think it quite unlikely any radical changes of any substance will happen…so the current system will probably continue.

    But perhaps my idea that change only comes out of major crisises at government level is wrong and a bit narrow anyway…its certainly not very inspiring! Perhaps it would be better to prop things up so that people can eat and stuff and try and affect change in much more positive ways!?

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Forums Life Money Edinburgh Financial Crisis Protest: "We wont pay for your crisis!