Another day, another (massive load of) dollars

When, many years from now, historians write about the latter years of the 20th century and the early decades of the 21st, one narrative (apart from the 'war on terror') will dominate - the overbearing influence that a tiny banking elite has over the levers of power throughout the developed world.

First, a massive and unprecedented bail-out and accompanying recession left a generation of people saddled with debt and a huge range of countries with a future of declining investment in public services and infrastructure.

Then, the very same elite -  rich from billions of taxpayer pounds and, for others, from the ability to borrow money at hysterically low rates of interest as a result of the guarantee that they are 'too big to fail' - resisted any attempts to reform or regulate them

And now, well, they are just taking the p*ss. You could write a blog entirely composed of examples to give credence to this statement - but, for today, let's give three examples:

• Banks seek state aid for investment in small businesses
• Banks likely to ask for further taxpayer bail-out
• Banks calling halt to credit interest on current accounts