Have you pot of gold, but don't expect another bailout

What strikes me is how little attention is being given to the whole issue of banker's bonuses by our current coalition government- especially as one half of it was stepped in popular rhetoric before the general election. True, several conferences have apparently been arranged between the big banks and the government (not just the ones you and I own) in order to reduce or at least try and make the bonus pot look a little less like a free lunch.

Robert Peston has noted that, for example,   the Sachs of Gold Partners (or GS)  bonus pot is a mere £269,000 per employee this year (much less than the usual £400-500 k). Naturally during this period of hair shirts and austerity my heart bleeds for these poor people having to life on such 'rations' (as an MP once put it). And of course many of you may well say that the non-nationalised banks are private and can therefore do what they want; conversely the nationalised banks need to keep the bonus pot high in order to make the bank profitable for the taxpayer.

Well, whatever the merits of these arguments it is fair to point out that so much of the economic crisis began with the whole churning out of the CDOs and other bad ideas of these banks, that they hardly deserve anything let alone the continuation of this bonus gravy train- not at least when the poor ordinary taxpayer has had to shoulder the burden of bailing out the banking system as a whole. True HSBC and Barclays did not take government cash, they were certainly helped by taxpayers via the back door of the Bank of England's low interest rates, liquidity schemes and most recently Quantitative Easing.

Furthermore, whilst the banks mentioned above are not owned by the taxpayer, there is in effect a blanket guarantee or should I say an insurance policy in effect -without any premium being paid - that the government (indeed any western government) that should a further crisis hit, then the taxpayer will stand behind whatever financial institution is under threat and whatever the circumstances or bad decisions of this private company.

As for the banks which are owned by the taxpayer, I think much more has to be done to sell off assets, reduce debt and provide a time table in which we can expect our money back (i.e. a "exit strategy").The investment banks take a lot of risk and sometimes this pays off to a wave of mega profits- upside for them- but when it is mega bust it is still upside as the taxpayer is now their ultimate back stop.  If these people want their bonuses fine, but let us not allow the taxpayer to be their unfunded insurer of the last resort.