UK Crisis Bank Northern Rock To Be Nationalized

[Purveyor]

Source: CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Troubled British bank Northern Rock, which has been hit hard by the credit crunch, is to be nationalized UK finance minister Alistair Darling confirmed Sunday.

Darling, speaking at a hastily convened press conference in London Sunday afternoon, said he would introduce legislation to implement temporary public ownership Monday. Shares in the bank are to be suspended before the London Stock Exchange opens the same day.

Northern Rock -- Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender -- got into difficulties last September after becoming especially vulnerable to the fallout from the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis.

It received an emergency loan from the Bank of England, leading worried Northern Rock customers to withdraw more than $4 billion in Britain's first bank run in more than a century.

So far Northern Rock has received loans and guarantees totaling more than £55 billion ($108 billion) from the UK government. Darling said that a solution had to be found by March 17 to satisfy state aid regulations.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/02/17/northern.rock/?iref=hpmostpop

[Joanne98]

1. Let's national all of them! YEAH!

[Zynx]

10. Do you have any idea how much that would cost?

[Phred42]

12. We are paying for them anyway - and have no control

Corporate welfare - your tax dollars at work,

tax paid Bailouts (remember Silverado?) and once again the Mortgage crises

we might as well make the government agencies along the lines of Medicare - at least we can vote for who is controlling them

[Warren Stupidity]

2. Huh, That's rather huge.

It seems that Britain hasn't done anything like this since the 40s.

[Greeby]

3. You gotta remember

The Labour Party and this Labour government are just as full of "free market" idelogues as the Tories. So, for them to do this is bordering on heresy

[Warren Stupidity]

4. Indeed. It is stunning.

[intaglio]

5. And about time!

The predators have been licking their chops over this and now they will have to whistle!

[Robbien]

6. Shareholders shocked :"Nationalized industries do not run very well at all."

http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/02/17/northern-nationalize-bank-markets-cx_ll_0217northernrock.html

Excuse me Mr Shareholder, but tell me how Northern Rock was run well before this? Your greed got you into this situation you idiot.

Darling has in the end been forced to try and pacify voters instead of shareholders.

Protecting citizens instead of the greedy elite? How preposterous. Such activity will never happen in the US of A.

[Prophet 451]

7. Enlightened citizen to Shareholder: "You're full of crap".

Nationalised industries have been run very well in the past. British Gas, British Steel and the electricity market come to mind. All were privatised, all suffered enormous price increases and crappy service.

[Phred42]

13. agree with enlightened citizen

For example: Medicare works significantly better than ANY public health insurance company

[Prophet 451]

14. And it probably always will

Every survey shows the same thing: Well-managed career civil servants manage industries far more efficiently and far cheaper than layers of middle-management.

We have the NHS here, covers everything for everyone (except dental care). Is it perfect? Of course not but it deals with most things quickly and efficiently and (because it lacks a profit motive, uses mainly generics and is run efficiently) it's far cheaper than current US "healthcare".

[New Dawn]

8. Wow, Labour is doing something right

:toast:

[bluesmail]

9. It's temporary.

So that's what the article said.

[Phred42]

11. Maybe we should do this too

We should think about Nationalizing several industries like this.
Oil, Health Insurance, Fresh Water Supply.....

Hell, the tax payers are subsidizing and bailing these bastards out anyway. Rather than tax paid Corporate Welfare let's just turn them into Giovernment agencies and hold them accountable.