Got a pension fund - that'll be you. Any savings - same deal. The real distinction isn't between retail and investment banks but between banks that offer real products and services into the real economy and the arbitrageurs, hedge funds and so forth who do nothing for anyone but them selves. That explains the rewards that are so unconnected to the real world. The competition isn't to provide those goods and services, it's to find the sharpest dealers, the smartest quants, the crookedest tax lawyers and so forth. And all the while anyone who operates honestly in the real economy is being robbed. Bring on the Robin Hood tax, the Tobin tax, whatever you like to call it. A very small percentage would still throw enough sand in the works to stop these shenanigans.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
