Major UK Bank Bradford & Bingley facing Nationalisation

Major UK Bank Bradford & Bingley facing Nationalisation

business.timesonline.co.uk

Alistair Darling is close to ordering the nationalisation of Bradford & Bingley as a search for a private sector buyer for the stricken lender becomes increasingly desperate.

Seven months after Northern Rock was taken over, the Chancellor has ordered officials to prepare to take a second financial institution into public ownership, although Treasury officials last night stressed no decisions had been taken...

(visit the link for the full news article)


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[edit on 26/9/08 by pause4thought]

The article continues:

The seizure of B&B would be explosive, taking more than £40 billion of assets and liabilities on to the Government balance sheet and would be certain to trigger a backlash from shareholders who have only just injected £400 million into the business to beef up its balance sheet.

This is a major blow in the UK. It appears the events in the US have indeed foreshadowed what may well occur in the rest of the world, as predicted by many on ATS.

Welcome to the global economy...




business.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by pause4thought

This is a major blow in the UK. It appears the events in the US have indeed foreshadowed what may well occur in the rest of the world, as predicted by many on ATS.

It didn't need any 'predicting' from ATS members for this, merely the ability to read a newspaper during the last year or so. Northern Rock struggling with American sub-prime then selling portfolio to JP Morgan to try and pay off the loan from the Bank of England to offset the sub-prime problem: it was obvious even before the Bradford & Bingley story.

[edit on 26-9-2008 by Merriman Weir]

reply to post by Merriman Weir



Hi. Thanks for illustrating very concisely how the fate of one bank is inextricably linked to the fate of others even across borders.

However while I agree the signs of impending gloom have been visible in the MSM I'm not at all sure the signs of impending doom have been even acknowledged, other than in passing remarks, tentative hypothetical quips and comments aimed at ridiculing talk of widespread collapse.

If anything I'd say ATS has acted as a parallel universe up till the last few weeks, when the MSM finally started to catch up. Believe it or not even now there is virtually no serious discussion or detailed analysis in the UK's MSM about the possibility of a total meltdown. All that is talked about is how the powers that be 'need to do this or that otherwise things could get very messy', etc. It's all made to sound soooo hypothetical.

Even this morning the female presenter on 5 Live radio (Victoria Derbyshire I believe) introduced the Bradford & Bingley story with "Now we must be careful not to give the impression things are worse than they are," - then followed it up with: "but B&B certainly looks like it's in trouble..."

Denial of reality - even now.

I'd say MSM = sanitisation. Pure & simple. And it's never been clearer.

Originally posted by pause4thought
reply to post by Merriman Weir

If anything I'd say ATS has acted as a parallel universe up till the last few weeks, when the MSM finally started to catch up. Believe it or not even now there is virtually no serious discussion or detailed analysis in the UK's MSM about the possibility of a total meltdown. All that is talked about is how the powers that be 'need to do this or that otherwise things could get very messy', etc. It's all made to sound soooo hypothetical.

Yet most of the people I've spoken to over the last year regarding the economy have said the same thing, and yet out of all those people, I only know of one of them that even knows what 'AboveTopSecret.com' is. As much as I like this board, it's not this parallel paradise of informed musing as you're making out. Take, for example, Ron Paul. A lot of people are posting along the lines of 'Ron Paul's been saying this for years!!!' but it's not as if Ron Paul is a ATS poster.

All I'm saying is you didn't really need to be the Delphic Oracle to see the way this has been going.

Even this morning the female presenter on 5 Live radio (Victoria Derbyshire I believe) introduced the Bradford & Bingley story with "Now we must be careful not to give the impression things are worse than they are," - then followed it up with: "but B&B certainly looks like it's in trouble..."

Denial of reality - even now.

I'd say MSM = sanitisation. Pure & simple. And it's never been clearer.

One of the problems that the mainstream media faces, and I say this as someone who has no love for mainstream media (and supplements his hard news with 'Private Eye') and has also worked in a local council publicity/propaganda department, is that 'it's damned if it does and damned if it doesn't'.

As it stands, already sections of mainstream media are frequently described as being alarmist and sensational for creating adversely negative pictures out of news stories: there's a paedophile in every playground, all Muslims are terrorists, black kids will kill us all with their knives, the French and the Germans are conspiring to rob us blind and benefit spongers are bleeding us dry! &c.

Yet, if a news outlet says 'yes, it's looking bad but not too bad' in a hope that old ladies aren't going to gas themselves because penniless rioters are going to take the last £40 from under their mattress then, apparently, they're diluting the truth.

The fact is that mainstream media as a whole will never satisfy everyone. That's why there's broadsheets, tabloids, different political biases and so on. People will inevitably be dissatisfied because it's impossible for the mainstream media as a whole to actually meet any one person's expectations. A Daily Mail reader is not going to like the Guardian's take on things and vice versa, questioning agenda behind the selection of news as well as the subsequent representation. A Financial Times reader is going to be dissatisfied with the way tabloids superficially report on complex economy stories.

Something you need to take into consideration also is there's no real consensus on ATS. There are threads appearing here that are suggesting it's not as bad as other posters are suggesting whereas others are expecting riots in the street tomorrow followed by a Police/Army takeover some time next week. To the latter, everyone else is not seeing the full picture and is "sanitising" what's happening or just doesn't get it. To the former, everyone else is being alarmist or misunderstanding the intricacies of economic policies.

Reply to Merriman Weir

Hi MW.

That was thoughtful and very well argued. I'll just reply to two points, briefly.

A Financial Times reader is going to be dissatisfied with the way tabloids superficially report on complex economy stories.

The problem is I don't follow the tabloid media at all, I'm dissatisfied with the superficiality of the Beeb, etc. Only yesterday I was listening to a report on signs of change in Belarus, for example, and it was so naive, taking odd comments by officials as signs of real change. I've noticed the level of analysis dropping over several years. I think there is a perceptible 'dumbing down', which may reflect the shortcomings of the education system. I digress.

Regarding the question of whether people have had enough information to foresee a total collapse in all seriousness, I still maintain that the type of comments that have been around in economics-related threads for a very long time here (now specifically collated and continued in the Global Meltdown forum) would have been regarded by the general populace as extreme up till very recently. As it is there are people with a great deal of experience in the markets and a very good grasp of the reality who are prepared to say on ATS what the MSM wouldn't touch. That's the impression I have, at least.

Back on topic:

Treasury to Nationalise Bradford & Bingley

Source article: news.bbc.co.uk... (dated today, 7:23 am)

Only last night the Chancellor was saying on radio that it was not the government's job to buy banks (despite the fact they poured vast amounts of tax-payers money into acquiring Northern Rock). Interestingly he said Lloyds TSB had been "nudged" in the direction of HBOS. Obviously no-one was prepared to touch this bank with a barge pole...