The final failure of twentieth century Anglo-Saxon market capitalism!

The Times reports on the failure of the Wall Street Madoff Fund in quite enough detail linked here. How far have we traveled from "Our word is our bond"? The rot began in the seventies when the oil companies' safety net arrangements which were designed to protect independent Libyan oil producers from the arm-twisting of Colonel Ghadaffi broke down and the shipping charters made by one such of these independents were re-negotiated in what became a forerunner to widespread re-negotiation of other types of contractual arrangements following the resultant massive rise in oil prices. Watching Jeff Randall's interview last evening on Sky News with the snake-like head of Barclays Bank I was reminded of another first-hand experience of the decline in standards and morals. In the early years of this century a family member returned to the UK to attend University. I forwarded funds to my Barclays account, barely used over many years, to draw upon to provide the necessities of student life. On arriving at the local branch I was shocked to learn the account had been closed and the transferred funds apparently had mysteriously disappeared with no notification sent back to my transmitting bank. I eventually had these funds returned but does this not speak volumes on the standards set at the top which verge upon the criminal but apparently percolate quite far down the organisational structure. Had I been the recipient of money from a third party I might never have learned of the account's closure and my consequent loss. Where next, as I quipped in a recent post, a knighthood these days seems to be carried as a badge of dishonour, it is truth and honour that has to be restored, but this blog has been stating that for years with no results - try typing "truth" in the search bar at the top of this blog! For once David Cameron in his speech yesterday to Reuters, here, seemed to be heading in a valid policy direction why not go the whole way and admit that we must return to the principle that "Our word is our bond" and even "a contract is a contract".