Philip Hammond, the government's defence secretary (defence of what, one wonders) has some stern words for 'ordinary people':
"People say to me, 'It was the banks'. I say, 'hang on, the banks had to lend to someone'. People feel in a sense that someone else is responsible for the decisions they made. Of course, if banks don't offer credit, people can't take it. [But] there were two consenting adults in all these transactions, a borrower and a lender, and they may both have made wrong calls. Some people are unwilling to accept responsibility for the consequences of their own choices."
So it's all our fault. It sounds rather cosy actually. The idea that the world economy got into a bit of a pickle because we all pulled a bit of a fast one on our bank managers and borrowed too much for new cars and garden patios. Into the headmaster's study for a bit of a wigging and we can pull our socks up in no time and sort it all out.
For a slightly different suggestion of the scale and location of the problem that 'the banks had to lend to someone' (and how) look at these graphics:
http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/derivatives/bank_exposure.html?source=patrick.net
and for and view of what the future may hold on our high-finance roller-coaster see:
http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2012/05/etfs-part-2/.
Meanwhile, who's got the real money?
http://www.ey.com/UK/en/Issues/Business-environment/Financial-markets-and-economy/ITEM---Background.
And so
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjHJ_snG3RI
