Royal Bank of Scotland, a company that is 84% owned by us, is to share out a bonus pool of £1.5 billion amongst its top bankers. This from a bank that last year made a loss of £3.6 billion. Hardly a deserved reward by any stretch of the imagination especially for two of their top investment bankers.
Misers Fleming and Ashley, both responsible for the derivatives and bonds markets for RBS, which collapsed spectacularly at the end of 2008, have decided to take their “talent” elsewhere in new posts in Japan because of a threat to their bonuses.
These speculators and bankers, who at the time were applauded by right-wing politicians and governments all are around the world, have no idea of the future they have left for this generation of young people.
While their pay rises reach astronomical proportions the one in five young people currently on the dole are to receive an extra 90p to bring them up to £51.85 a week. And if you are “lucky” enough to be in a job the measly minimum wage has become the maximum wage. Many will be forced to work until 68 or until they die to pay off the £1.5 trillion these bonus-laden bankers have bequeathed to us.
Most of these bankers, educated in the top universities, paid no tuition or top-up fees but university now costs £3,225 a year with many vice-chancellors demanding an increase of thousands of pounds. This will stop whole swathes of working class young people from going to university.
We live in a world were greedy bankers are being rewarded at the expense of ordinary people and the future of the next generation. The vast sums being handed over prove this isn’t a few bad apples – capitalism is at fault.
This is why Socialist Youth and the Socialist Party fight to make the bankers pay. But we don’t stop there we need to stop the root cause of the problem which is why we fight for a socialist world where the trillions of pounds used to cover the gambling debts of RBS and Barclays are used to create jobs, fund education and provide decent public services.
If that sounds like common sense to you, then get in touch and join us today, otherwise they have gotten away with the greatest robbery in history!
The massive spending cuts the new “Con-Dem” government will announce in June’s emergency budget will be the first stage of an unrelenting attack on working class people, sustained over years. Despite the veneer of opposition from some MLA’s, the local politicians are fully committed to implementing this Thatcherite agenda.
Dublin MEP Paul Murphy was part of a Socialist Party contingent on a peaceful protest organised by the community in Rossport and the Shell to Sea campaign today.
The announcement of massive job cuts in the banking sector further underlines that the bank bailouts had nothing to do with defending the interest of working class people.