Why the latest bank bail out won't work

Brown has pledged billions of pounds more of taxpayers money to guarantee the bad debts of our banks.

The Prime Minister announced a scheme to allow banks to exchange cash or shares for a Government guarantee on their "toxic" debts, transferring any losses they suffer from the banks to the taxpayer.

The hope is that the banks will start lending money again. It is a forlorn hope. The problem with the banks debts are that they are global - I believe the figure is something like 80% of the debt held by British banks is overseas debt. If that figure is correct then regardless of what Brown does the banks are not going to be lending money either to each other or anyone else - and it also calls into question why our government are spending so much money to support foreign debt.

The problem, as I understand it, is getting British banks to start lending money to British businesses and individuals - but because all the banks are interwoven into this intricate and rapidly collapsing foreign web of finance they can't. Nor can it be solved by simply "nationalising" a particular bank - they will still have substantial foreign debt and that will still affect their lending.

The government would have been far better off letting those big name banks collapse into the self-inflicted pile of shite they created and serves them bloody right. They could have used those billions of pounds to set up a new, national and British only bank serving British business and British customers only.

It's not the banking system that is in crisis - it is globalisation and we are pumping billions of pounds into supporting that at the expense of our own national economy. Stupid.