Your rose colored glasses are pretty foggy.
Ealier today [10/21/2009] it emerged that Royal Bank of Scotland, bailed out with £20bn of taxpayers' money a year ago, has already amassed a pay bill, including salaries and bonuses, of almost £2bn for its 20,000 investment bankers  a pot that could double by the year's end.
A newspaper report said that RBS has hired dozens of City high-flyers on bumper no-strings-attached bonus deals, in defiance of its promises to rein in profligate pay. The Daily Telegraph claims that 11 bankers were poached from ailing Wall Street bank Merrill Lynch on estimated packages of £500,000 each.
The reports come just hours after a firebrand speech from the Governor of the Bank of England calling for banks to be brought to heel.
In his most outspoken attack yet on the banks, Mervyn King said it was no longer acceptable that UK lenders are allowed to engage in high-risk casino banking under the cover of a taxpayer guarantee.
A separation of investment banking arms from retail operations may be the only way out of the current 'unworldly' situation where taxpayers have to pick up the tab when institutions get into trouble, said King.
King's speech gave voice to mounting public anger over the 'back-to-business-as-usual' arrogance of banks that have benefited over the last year from £1.3 trillion in taxpayer support to rescue the financial system.
And the CEBR figures will fuel the flames, particularly as the banks stand accused of rationing loans to businesses and consumers, while handing out huge pay deals.
That RBS is at the heart of the bonus bonanza will be especially controversial, given that the Government holds a 70% stake in it. RBS declined to comment.
If a substantial owner of a bank demands that management's salaries and bonuses be cut is a sign of creeping nationalization, then isn't a actually nationalized bank that increases management's salaries and bonuses after being bailed out a sign that you're imagining a corner when none is there?
IOW, look at what is actually happening, stop watching Fox, and quit imagining slippery slopes! ;-)
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.