Cempaka Belanda: How to separate banks from greed

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.
They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

How to separate banks from greed

NRC International, 27 January 2010 17:23, by Arnoud Boot, Opinion

Banks are in need of some serious reorganisation, but they do not need to be broken up, argues professor Arnoud Boot.

American president Barack Obama has proposed structural measures that would keep his nation’s banks on a short leach. Under his plan, banks would no longer be allowed to invest on their own account, meaning they would no longer be allowed to gamble Las Vegas style, more or less under government guarantee, their sizes would be capped, and their ability to investment in hedge funds and private equity would be restricted.

Obama’s proposal comes just in time for the De Wit committee to consider it. This committee, chaired by the Dutch parliamentarian Jan de Wit, has been charged with an inquiry into the origins of the banking crisis and the lessons that need to be drawn from it, but the multitude of experts it has heard in its inquiry has had little to offer in suggestions for improvement, apart from suggesting better oversight of the banking industry, and increasing its capital reserves.

The financial sector however, is by its very nature unstable, unpredictable, and complex – making it extremely complicated to regulate and supervise.

A game-changing proposal

Obama’s move was immediately embraced by the Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos, and rightly so. For those who have yet to understand the relevance of what is going on– the Obama proposal would make for a whole new playing field. Structural reform was not on the agenda initially, but it is now. How it got there is anyone’s guess. The fact that greed-ridden international banking has so far proven unable to clean up its act on its own undoubtedly played a part. The stupidity of American banks, which ticked off authorities by paying out exorbitant bonuses and speculating on financial markets like never before, defies all understanding. Dutch banks have little to do with these most recent excesses, but the comments made by Dutch bankers questioned by the De Wit committee make one fear the worst. Bankers there implied that sooner or later, they too may be forced to jump on this bandwagon.

The fundamental problem: banking appears no longer to function as a lubricant for the economy at large, it has become an autonomous profit machine with no compass to guide it. Banking suffers from an image problem. Innovations created in banking have been getting a bad name. Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and the intellectual progenitor of the Obama plan, went as far as saying the only useful innovation implemented by bankers in the last three decades was the ATM machine, which, by the way, bankers did not invent.

An ATM being is being repaired in London. (Photo Reuters)

While this judgement is undoubtedly to harsh, something is surely wrong if the financial sector is more profitable than the rest of all industries combined. At the end of the day, the financial sector is the lubricant that keeps the economy rolling. It produces nothing itself, but allows the economic system to function more smoothly.

Diagnosis: sick of technology

A clear diagnosis of the problem is the key to its solution. I think information technology played a crucial part. It has caused financial institutions and markets to coalesce and made banks more volatile and unpredictable than ever before.

This process was led by financial innovations, like securitisation, which allowed banks to trade their assets directly on financial markets. But inter-bank lending, over-the-counter transactions and complex relations with other financial actors have also made for a system of total interdependency.

Today, a bank’s risk profile can change in the blink of an eye. Financial markets are key to this process. Worse, the impulsive behaviour enabled by this system has proven to be highly prone to herd behaviour. All involved are doing the same thing at the same time, inducing true systemic risk: everybody might be wrong at the same time.

Greed and gambling

I must conclude that the forces unleashed by information technology have left the financial sector beyond any control. We are left with no other options than to partially dismantle it. That is exactly what Obama is doing by forbidding banks to trade on their own account. His proposal resembles the 1933 Glass Steagall Act, which drew a line between commercial banking and financial market oriented investment that remained in place until 1999. The first type of banking encompasses conventional activities such as holding savings accounts, the payment system, and traditional loans. The second type of banking entails anything to do with the financial markets: Las Vegas style gambling, yes, but also things like public stock offerings, and bond trading.

Whether the distinction between the two types of banking should be re-introduced is doubtful. Providing a company with credit or letting the market do so by helping to sell its bonds are two activities that can easily be carried out by the same bank. Still, the destructive risk-seeking behaviour eminating from the financial markets need to be isolated from other interests. Banks do not necessarily need to be broken up to accomplish this. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has proposed structures that would untangle financial interests internally while leaving banks intact. A Bank’s ‘public’ segment, including deposits, payments and loans, could be effectively shielded from the risks that stem from their other activities.

The increased transparency this would create would make life easier for supervisors. The De Wit committee should take note of this in its questioning of those responsible at the Dutch central bank. It should not only ask whether or not the central banks has fallen short, but should ask what sort of restructuring of the financial sector could allow for effective oversight. The central bank will have to show some mental flexibility here. Until recently, it thought itself capable of handling any complexity, provided it was given some additional instruments. That, however, is an illusion.

Professor Arnoud W.A. Boot teaches economy at the University of Amsterdam.

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