Yet again have the markets tumbled into the abyss and the poor bastards which cop it the hardest, are the small time investors trying to make a quid for retirement. It beggars belief that leading banking institutions can so readily fall to the wayside and it certainly doesn’t instill confidence in a system that idolises money as the all powerful arbiter of social adhesion.

What I find extraordinarily peculiar is that a government would be willing to bail out the very institutions that are at fault. With corrupt and greedy practices abound, the gun toting financial gurus leading the banking sector who undoubtedly pay homage to the whiz-kids on Wall Street are seemingly the cause for this collapse in fiscal bliss. A clear message is sent, that is; if you’re just some poor arsehole on the street then you mean diddley squat, but if you are a large corporation then you receive all sorts of concessions for being a loser. Like give us a break! These dickheads give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses for fucking things up! Howz that figure?

I’m left here wondering what in the hell am I doing wrong. Give me hold of the reigns, I’ll show you how to fuck things up? “Show me the money!”…and I’ll drag the whole economy into the ether of self centeredness and give myself a little pat on the greenback for doing it properly, wryly smiling as the US Government funds my departure into financial certainty.

You’ve gotta hand it to these guys though, they take the cake when it comes to scamming. Forget about Nigerian scams they’re for petty criminals, the ultimate in phishing scams is just a bank manager away. The pure genius of it -

Slick wall street guy: “lets lend money to the economically disadvantaged”

Mr Fat Cat Banker: “What! How they gonna repay their mortgage?”

Slick wall street guy: “Don’t worry. By the time the shit hits the fan we’ll be sailing the Caribbean with our new yachts…They won’t know what hit em. It’s worth a hefty bonus – soon we’ll be swimming in it. We’ll create some fancy bullshit plan…call it something like sub-prime lending- none will be the wiser. It’ll just be like printing money and everybody will lap it up as the sale of the century…We can’t lose”

Mr Fat Cat Banker: (Eyes glistening. The joy as he thinks of the new bentley he’s had his eye. Clasping his hands) “Ok I’ll get my people to draw up some drafts. Gee, Slick, you might just be onto something.” (Putting his arm around Slicks’ shoulder as they walk off together, almost like lovers walking hand in hand) “Have you ever thought about joining the banking sector…I think an opening has just become available at Bank X Corp. Why don’t you drop by Monday and we’ll talk about it some more….”

The irony of it all…how often do we envisage organised crime as underworld syndicates plotting the corruption of youth with drugs, illegal gambling dens and crack houses with two bit whores waiting for their next hit on the pipe or junkies eying off grandma’s handbag. We’ve all been duped, the real crimes are being committed above board – indeed in the board room, with power brokers edging off the best scam to hit the masses with, all the while knowing “they’re too big to fail” and that their “friends” in Parliament or the White House are only a phone call away when the fall out of last years board meeting hits main street.

Now where’s those stock quotes on Gold….