Artificial profits that gave inflated bonuses = money stolen from shareholders
These need to be returned to the banks.
Happy hunting !   more »

What would be interesting would be to see the total tax revenues received by the governments.
The higher the price ; the more tax income but ....sometimes short term the consumption goes down as a result of the higher price   more »

THE BIG CON TO SAVE THE BANKS !
"The funds that are coming in are not staying in Greece, are not being invested in Greece, are not here to help the Greeks get out of this crisis," Constantine Michalos, president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the BBC."   more »

This is the way that incentives for management and traders etc should be handled.
I also believe that overall share performance or indeed that of the sector should be discounted against any appreciation in the share price.
Now let's start getting the executives of all the banks of the world together with the insurance companies,such as AIG, to hand back their artificially inflated bonuses.
The UK privatised sector,such as the water companies, should also do the same.
Bonuses that are awarded on a yearly basis are too short term amd never take into the longer term liabilities associated with these profits.
We saw this, for example,with the Llyods insurance market many years back.   more »

If telcom companies converted to 100% VOIP over switch mechanisms their efficiency would rise however they would be forced to reduce their workforce by 70%+   more »

If telcom companies converted to 100% VOIP over switch mechanisms their efficiency would rise however they would be forced to reduce their workforce by 70%+   more »

The return of the News of the Screws in disguise.
Murdoch and his management should be banned from the UK publishing industry.
To begin with, only one media arena should be available to the same group and family.
Murdoch has opted for Sky and therefore should be excluded from the press.
There should be a limit of 10% control by foreigners in the local media.   more »

"Therefore is there an opportunity to resurrect flowering plants that have gone extinct in the same way that we talk about bringing mammoths back to life, the Jurassic Park kind of idea." ?   more »

Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama; Where are you now ?
You together with the UN, NATO and the Arab League were responsible for ousting the Gaddafi regime but as far as follow up goes you now need to stand up and be tried for your actions.
This blood bath is your doing and you are all responsible for these acts.
You cannot overthrow a regime and then just walk away.
This is totally disgusting and a trial at The Hague needs to be held with you all sitting in the dock.   more »

Whatever is decided by Greece before the end of March will be cancelled by the new government after the elections in May.
I repeat "Default Greece and pull out of the euro before it is too late"   more »

Where is the Arab League ?
Where are the UN and NATO ?
Where is democracy ?
Maybe King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa should convert to Shiite ?
And then let his Iranian brothers in ?
BTW remind me, how many "democratic" countries are there in the Arab League ?
Out of the 22 member states, (21 as Syria is suspended) the majority is not composed of "democratic" countries.....so basically the Arab League is a dictatorship/monarchy.
The UN and NATO will soon change this so if i were a King or Queen i would tread very carefully for the rest of my soon-to-end reign.   more »

Deport him to The Hague as Europe has made this decision ! Or how about Libya or Egypt ?   more »

What is the difference between the killing of the Kurds by Saddam Hussein in Irak and the Turkish government's killing of its Kurdish population ?
Let's not even start to mention Armenia ! and Libya AND Syria....
So why can Turkey, the pro-European, pro-American nation get away with it ?   more »

The politics and the way that this has been handled and continues to be managed is a joke!
Oil rigs and ships should be sunk in the North Sea and around the UK to create a natural barrage and obstacle against the trawling industry.
These objects would create a natural habitat after a few years that would not be penetrable by the fishing industry and would therefore prevent over-fishing in these areas.
The biggest joke is ;because of the quotas ;most trawlers are throwing back DEAD the majority of their catch.
Ships need to be prevented from leaving port and there needs to be a complete overhaul of the regulations concerning the type of nets and their mesh size that is being used by the industry.
The trawlers are also destroying the sea bed with the weights being dragged behind them that are used to submerge their nets.
Every country and fisherman is cheating.   more »

Maybe the Sun "will continue" but you Mr Murdoch together with your family, should have nothing to do with it.
You have lied continuously and charges should be filed against you under US law especially as you are now a US citizen.
You should crawl back under a rock somewhere in the Oz outback where you came from.   more »

This is a game of poker.
Call their bluff, Greece, and default.
You have absolutely nothing to gain by staying in the Euro and not defaulting.
Once you default, this will trigger the CDS and at least we will all have a clearer view on who is holding your devalued debt paper.   more »

Getting there slowly .......but responsibility needs to be attributed to the bank officers etc and successful prosecution needs to follow.
A lot of artificially inflated bonuses and pay and pension packages need to be returned as they were paid out of non-existant profits.
By settling, the five banks will avoid civil federal lawsuits. However, they are still exposed to the possibility of litigation from states or individuals.
They will also be subject to tighter regulation of foreclosure practices.
All US states except Oklahoma were involved in the agreement, which will last for three years.   more »

It wont work !
Greece needs 90% write-off and to leave the Euro.
Then let market forces establish the exchange rate for the new drachma   more »

An interesting point of view from a US blogger   more »

This briefly sums up today's democracy in a nutshell
The sad truth but a good reason for the return of the Monarchy or Tyranny   more »

What a load of BS !
I don't see Jordan on the UN "hit list" of countries to have their governments decapitated so why the opposition to this cleric's deportation ?
Maybe the UN has another hidden agenda and either Jordan will soon be the new target or the UN believes in the innocence of this terrorist ?
After all Jordan has only existed since 1945 and both the current King and his father King Hussein were educated at Harrow in the UK
So why the opposition to the deportation of this terrorist ?
I am sure that he would feel much more at home especially under Sharia law ;-)   more »

More evidence of politicians who want to just tax the citizens to pay for their own ways and means.
There is no logical reason why the budget deficit should increase greater than inflation.   more »

Well done China !
The disasters that have followed in Irak, Libya and Egypt do not justify the badly thought out decisions that were taken.
There is no control once a mandate has been passed by the UN.
No rules nor limits are respected by the "liberators" though i would use the words "Bullying nations"
We need to sit down with an international court and take count of what exactly happened in Irak, Libya and Egypt and also all the other countries in which the UN has given an "attack mandate"
....and most certainly before these errors and misuse of power occur again.
Let's begin with Syria and GET OUR NOSES OUT OF ITS OWN BUSINESS !   more »

It will be interesting to see the outcome of these charges.
I firmly believe that foreign governments totally over-stepped the mark and their mandates in every country that they have sanctioned via the UN.
I fully understand Russia's position, though biased because of its personal relationship etc, on Syria.
Foreign intervention was NOT according to the UN mandate and in fact i would be for a criminal case to be brought against the leaders of the governments who implemented these actions.
Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama need to stand up and face their responsibilities.
Look at the mess and killings that you have all caused by your naivity and hidden personal agendas.
Russia isn't without responsibility as it invaded Afghanistan in 1978 !
and China is still in Tibet.   more »

Who and what gives the US and Israel the right to dictate another country's policy ?
Israel might be scared of Iran and so might many other countries BUT since when do we all have the legal right to attack another country because it is not doing what it is told by foreigners ?
India, Pakistan and North Korea are all non-signatories of the NPT   more »

Well done Russia and China.
Finally two countries who have the power to stop this interference and influence on other countries by the US,UK and France.
There is a total conflict of interest and these 3 countries are continually breaking international law.
NATO and the UN need to be reined in and stopped.
The biased and slanted media has been of no help either and the truth needs to be proven as opposed to spoken through the forked tongues of politicians.   more »

The best thing about the UK is Queen Elisabeth II.
She represents stability and wisdom.
The UK is lucky to still have a monarchy.
Just imagine how much it would cost to have presidential elections every few years !
There are too many useless elections in "democratic" countries that distract the population from the realities.
Politicians and lawyers are all the same.....the longer they debate the more it costs you
There are too many democratic bodies in government and they all set up to control themselves and basically answerable to no-one....
The rest of Europe should maybe take a lead from the UK and oust their presidents and replace them with an elder statesman/woman for life or re-erect the monarchy.
God Save The Queen and may she live for ever   more »

Good on you Russia. Keep it up !
Stop this roller coaster run by the naive "do goodies" who think that they are really cleaning up these Arab League countries.
If i were Qatar and other royal despots i would immediately stop this movement and vote against the UN and NATO.
If you let Syria fall into the hands of foreign led rebels....which countries do you think are going to be next ?
Wake up you idiots ! Jordan, Qatar, Iran, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE etal
YOU ARE ALL NEXT ON THE LIST !!!!   more »

Who is going to be held responsible for this ?
You wont be able to pin this one on ex President Hosni Mubarak !
This certainly would never have happened if he was still in power.
We in the West together with the UN and NATO are all to blame.
Our governments indirectly but directly those in government who made the decisions to stick their noses in North Africa and the Middle-East are personally responsible.
This is only the beginning and unfortunately there will be plenty more blood shed over the next coming years because of our politics towards these countries.   more »

Bin Laden managed to live freely In Pakistan under the noses of the army.
This just adds further proof to Pakistan's hostility towards NATO and other countries's policies towards Afghanistan.   more »

Well done Russia !
Tell the rest of the "do goodies" of the world to keep their noses out of Syria
This vendetta against Syria is merely a continuation of the North African movement.
We serious need to stop interfering in other country's politics without really understanding what is going on.
We are now clearly the rebel and it is disgusting that we continue to bully regimes and governments into changing.
These rebellions are all being led by violent rebels who are definitely NOT the answer for an alternative government.   more »

Are large government CDS just a way of "cooking" the books?
If a major default were to occur what is the probability that the CDS would be honoured?
Accountancy rules to date seem to be happy to accept lower exposure against this form of insurance but how really secure is the potential payout in the case of default?
As these are direct contracts between two parties it depends on the size and solidity of each party.
This liability factor is not built in to the accountancy.
There needs to be a change of the rules unless we want to continue to be naive about robbing Peter to pay Paul   more »

Like i said below this is what every government needs.....an external control of its decisions and cheque book   more »

"On top of the 50 percent nominal loss, or haircut, already agreed, the lower coupon would produce a total loss for bondholders of more than 70 percent." is not enough for me....we need to reach the 90% level to make this a sustainable package....Watch this space as Greece now seems to understand that it is holding all the cards.....Default is unacceptable to the financial groups so push for an even better deal; is my advice to Greece   more »

This is a great idea for all countries!
There should be a Budget Commission that oversees and has the power to refuse and cancel all costs, salaries and advantages that are bestowed or given to elected officials in each country.
There is absolutely no higher authority that can challenge elected politicians vis-a-vis their paychecks and advantages.
As this is public money "confiscated" from the taxpayers the recipients should be made accountable in full and not be able to vote for themselves,their salaries and expenses and certainly NOT without recourse.
They should also be held accountable and liable for any bad and dishonest decisions that they make.
There is too much "back scratching" in this arena and an overseeing body or commission with the power to revoke and punish would be a very good idea.   more »

Of course the Pakistan military knew what and who was in the compound.
The only question is really ...if the US is allowed to play dirty games on another country's playing fields ?
The US was not at war with Pakistan and therefore totally overstepped the mark and international law by "taking out" Bin Laden.
The US is and has been an international bully and even, for example, with its scare tactics towards Iran it is not following the international law book to which it subscribes and is supposed to uphold.
Then again; there is no rule book with terrorism & murder and hence it would be very hard to play by the Queensbury rules to fight international terrorism.
On the other hand; what example is the US and its allies setting ?   more »

NATO and the UN are responsible for this mess and just to take out one terrorist ruling party to replace it with another is sad and pointless.
It is ALWAYS better the devil you know than the devil you don't and we should have NEVER got involved in Libya unless we were prepared to police the follow through all the way to peace.
We will now have to hold the new regime responsible for its new atrocities committed towards the old regime and its members....
What a mess !   more »

There are plenty of killers and rapists out on bail but this just shows how big business controls the politicians....
This guy only provided a platform for file sharing which supposedly did a lot of harm to the music and film industry.
The copywriting laws are very vague and how mant times have you bought a cd or dvd that has proved to be faulty. Then had to return to the shop and be told that since it has been opened you cannot return or get an exchange etc
The law should force the music and film industry and indeed any seller of cds or dvds to replace for free and to pay for the postage...then and only then the industry might have a leg to stand on...   more »

Sensational news without "cheque book journalism" will be very hard to do.
Creating smoke and hoping that there will be a fire has been the newspaper modus operandum for the last 40 years.
Ever since Murdoch moved his Australian Truth Magazine mentality into Fleet Street and removed all the rules of decency.
Together with Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch has destroyed the respectability of the press.(there used to be unwritten playing rules)
However the general public must also accept its responsibility by continuing to buy the "gutter press"
It should also be noted that the UK has one of the largest readership numbers of paper newspapers in the western world....   more »

It is really sad that the Turkish government wants to continue denying the proven facts.
Give back to the Armenians what the Ottoman empire stole but above all APOLOGISE !   more »

Greece needs to end up with a total debt lower than €50B !
Any more and it will be just delaying the default.
"Default or accept a writedown of 90%"   more »