Politics must regain power with the banks

Despite the plans and the taxpayers money, Governments are unable to put an end to the financial crisis. Credit systems are clogged, banks losses accumulate, and it seems remain them always tons of toxic products to declare.

The G20 called in London in April to establish a new international financial regulation may, if positions do not evolve to be a failure or a semi-failure.

First because two camps face, the anglo-saxon world and the continent. The British and Americans, whose banks are in agony, consider that il must first save the patient before want to re-educate the. The urgency is to revive financial circuits. If finance is not the path of the credit, stimulus economic adopted everywhere, also large they are, will be water in the sand. It should be. Get out of the operating, and come back later!

Additional argument not admitted a role: the strict rules of governance of business adopted in the United States after the Enron case showed that the regulation flee markets, their wealth and their jobs, other more accommodating places. Wall Street has lost the benefit of the City. Today, two places shall on their interests: point too much regulation should be.

The Anglo-Saxons, the argument of the continental is, as always, to political order. Public opinion cannot understand why should pay billions to banks guilty. To put the pill, political leaders must show they are determined to "change things". Politics must regain power with the banks. This competition between places that defend New York and London, is she who is responsible for having created a legal and fiscal dumping leading on laissez-faire and the non-régulation of a large part of the financial actors. But the g-20 may also fail because both sides are evidence of shyness. That have sounded the trumpets official last weekend, the meeting of the twenty-seven European countries to Berlin to prepare for the g-20 did not went. Driven by the Franco-German couple, for once arm upper-arm below, European leaders have denounced concert "hedge funds" and the tax havens, "usual" suspects are yet not those responsible for the crisis. But they did nothing concluded more because, on the merits, the twenty-seven refuse any advance of fiscal federalism. "Each master home", remains the rule. The doubling of funds from the IMF to 500 billion decided in Berlin is useful in itself. But it is also the sign that Europeans do not agree to help their own cousins, the countries of the East, collapsing, and they rely on the IMF to do so! The selfishness of European nations is their powerlessness.

Jacques de Larosière, former Director General of the IMF, has just made proposals that finally a pan-European Organization of monitoring and banking regulation is created. Advanced healthy but made with great apprehension, because he knows that the policies will refuse to see their banks rely on a federal authority.

Same shyness in the United States. Citigroup, the number one, is in its third rescue plan and, finally, the Federal State will have to take 40 of its capital. The debate is open on nationalizations (provisional) in good and due form. Is this not less costly for the taxpayers Alan Greenspan, the guru of laissez-faire, believes that they are necessary, but his successor to the Fed, Ben Bernanke, is not in his opinion. So far, the Government of Barack Obama is to avoid to take control of the banks.

For ideological reasons or reasons of protectionism, Governments do not dare take the hand and to grant a right of interference in the accounts and bank regulation. The crisis worsening there leads yet.