Questions that need answers
The government’s intervention to stabilize the banking sector was necessary, but the 28-billion-euro rescue plan should not be put into effect unless the following is made clear: How will bank executives be penalized for all the years of overspending and mistakes? Will it be by cuts in pay and bonuses, suspension of their shares for a certain period of time or with changes in management where mistakes have been proven? Who will be responsible for evaluating the guarantees that banks are supposed to give the government? Who will appoint the state commissioners? The average citizen cannot understand why banks with such sizable profits should merit government guarantees and funding without there being any solid terms under which they need apply. Furthermore, why should taxpayers trust government officials who were either not keeping a close watch on the country’s banks or were working on behalf of business interests with political leverage? The Americans, French and British demanded answers to these questions. What are we doing?
