That the banks have become uncontrollable? They are controlling almost the entire derivate market, good for 600,000 billion dollar. That is forty times the world trade in products and services or the equivalent of almost ten years of economic world output or almost 100,000 dollar per inhabitant of the planet. i
That the 23 biggest banks are twice as big as the GDP of the entire European Union? ii 1 2 3 4
That it’s not the high wages but the monopolies, the shamefully low corporate tax, and the high profit margins that are responsible for the crisis? So says chief economist of the Financial Times in a commentary on Spain. iii
That 9,000 billion dollar were pumped into the financial system to save the banks? That amount is twenty times the GDP of Belgium or more than the yearly shared income of the 4.7 billion people in the South. iv
That as a result of the financial crisis four million jobs disappeared in Europe alone? v
That the economic loss of the eurocrisis equals about 9,000 euro a family? vi
That the banks are not being properly regulated despite the big promises? vii
That today, banks are again booking the biggest profits since the start of the crisis? viii 1 2 3
That today, there is more speculation than before the crisis? ix
That the European Central bank in the process of the debt cirsis made billions of dollars in profit out of the peripheral countries (Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland)? x
That they speculated on the Greek debt? And that a hedge fund made 500 million euros out of it? xi
That in Spain, out of all people, the former president of the bankrupt Lehman bank became minister of economics? It was the bankruptcy of Lehman that caused the current financial crisis. xii
That to this day not a single banker went to court and was sentenced? Too big to jail… xiii
iii) Financial Times, 15 februari 2013, p. 9.
iv) Financial Times, 16 september 2009, p. 13; UNDP, Human Development Report 2010, New York 2010, p. 187 en 210.
v) Financial Times, 9/10 januari 2010, p. 1.
ix) Demos T., ‘Trading volumes hit record levels’, Financial Times, 11 augustus 2011, p. 11.