Big Business Are All Bastards...... ......And You're Going To Pay There was a shock announcement in the news yesterday when Goodwin Whitman III, the president of Staber Albatross Holdings said this...... "Folks, we're really sorry for all the titanic muck-ups we have made with economy and we understand that this is going to hurt the average worker much more than it is going to affect billionaire bankers like myself. A number of us 'fat cats' have therefore decided that this year, in view of the pending financial crisis, we won't take enormous wage rises and share disbursements, instead we will use our vast fortunes to save tens of thousands of low paid workers from losing their homes." That's wonderful isn't it ? Of course it's an absolute fantasy, the super rich are addicted to money and are driven to get as much as they can and keep it all for themselves. There was a story in the papers yesterday about a man called Joe Lewis. Lewis has invested about £490 million in a bank called Bear Stearns, the bank has promptly dropped like a stone and his holdings are now thought to be worth 'only' £22m. I'm not exactly crying for this bloke, he is still thought to have a personal fortune in excess of £2.5 billion. Our entire financial system doesn't seem right to me, we have people who are in effect gamblers, gamblers who play with the money of millions of people without their knowledge or permission, people who 'play' the stock markets, people who find the gaps in between money to make money, betting on the movements of currencies, stocks, shares and bonds to amass fortunes. to some degree unfortunately, the whole great financial system is a facade. The system relies on consumer confidence to keep it afloat, and without that confidence the system is revealed to be a paper house, liable to blow down in the first breeze of doubt. We can see at this very moment those winds of change sending the world markets into turmoil. I bet most of you are like me, either you have a job, like myself, where you actually manufacture something and turn raw materials into finished products, or you offer a direct service and get paid in return for your skills and knowledge. I'm going to be working just as hard this week and next as I was last week and the week before, yet, due to the actions of numerous idiot money gamblers, I'm going to end up paying more for my mortgage, and my savings and pension are going to be worth less. Millions upon millions like myself will be in the same situation, we will all be working hard, and we will all be a bit, or a lot, poorer. I wonder how many of the big financial barons will get into serious trouble, and by trouble I mean will they be poring over their bank statement and worrying whether they can meet the next months mortgage payment, or whether they might have to sell the family car and get the bus to work, or whether they might have to try and get a part time evening job to make ends meet ? Or course they won't, they might have to trade in the mega yacht for a slightly smaller version, or sell one of their private islands or vast estates. The problems with gamblers is that, well, they're gamblers. See those sad blokes loitering outside the bookies before opening time ? Gamblers. They look a bit shifty and shady, a touch of five o clock shadow at 1030 in the morning, they've got a copy of this morning's Racing Post and it's already well tatty and well read and once they've placed their first bet they'll be into the tap room for the first pint of the day. You wouldn't go to these blokes for financial advice would you ? And yet they run the world, of course they're dressed in sharp suits and they drink Lafitte in The Ivy and not Best Bitter in the Dog & Gun, but they are gamblers none the less. Now the gamblers have lost the bet, and we're all going to pay, bastards.

Earthquake ? What Earthquake ?? Sleep as soundly as Yorkshiresoul does with a generous measure of 12 year old Glenlivet.