Bankers

Dougie's Election 6

On....The Bankers

There's a phrase we used to hear a lot

before the 2008 financial crash

bankers and city whizz kids

were described as

'wealth creators'

We don't hear it anymore.

It was as though the bankers were gods

(remember 'Masters of the Universe?')

Let there be wealth

and lo!

there was wealth

Of course we now realise just how dodgy

this kind of 'wealth creation' was.

Wealth is created by adding value

to simple commodities

The carpenter takes a few planks

and transforms them into a table

It's why Germany and China are relatively 'rich.'

They make stuff.

It's the classic Labour Theory of Value

which comes not from Karl Marx

But the philosophical darling of the right

Adam Smith.

The bankers are not wealth creators

but wealth expropriators

It's a form of embezzlement

as everyone with a bank account knows.

(e.g. the thievery of bank charges.)

It works by plundering the accumulated wealth

of previous generations

(privatisation)

And of future generations

(debt)

creating paper riches

creatively creamed off.

And now we all have to fill in

this black hole of debt

We, the real wealth creators.