Gerald Warner: Libor scandal brings toxic banking closer to event horizon - Comment - Scotsman.com
.....
Now the rate-rigging investigation is extending to embrace the
European inter-bank offered rate (Euribor) and the Tokyo inter-bank
offered rate (Tibor) as well, which does not leave many areas of the
global economy immune. Financial brokerages and hedge funds, though
currently on the periphery of the investigation, are relentlessly being
brought into the frame.
Joe Public was there from the start, since Libor dictates mortgage
rates, business loans and credit card charges, all part of the fabric of
everyday life for the average citizen. Ironically, since the interest
rate was manipulated both upwards and down, some people may have
benefited from a dishonest rate. That is no mitigating factor: a free
market depends on honest data or it cannot operate for the common good.
The problem that is now haunting senior financiers and politicians is
the fear that the market may already be so diseased as to be in a
terminal condition, though it is not polite to say so.
No comments:
Post a Comment