Two numbers came out in the papers last week, one of which provoked shock, outrage, angst, worry and upset amongst the media and the country in general, whilst the other received what I would describe as barely a mention. One of them was the pension to be received by former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin, the other was the £13bn of extra cash that the government will be handing RBS in the new (thrid? fourth?) banking bailout plan.
I thought we could use a little bit of perspective on these two numbers, so I’ve put them on a graph together. Here: The green bar is the amount of cash being handed to RBS in this week’s bailout – not including the last bailout nor any risks that the taxpayer is taking. The blue bar is Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension, assuming he lives to the ripe young age of 80 and pays most of his taxes (I took 40% off his earnings over £60,000 per year).
I know what you’re thinking. I’ve made some sort of mistake, the blue bar appears to be missing. Honestly, it’s there. Look carefully. Here, I’ll zoom it in for you – click here to see the full-sized version.
And after you’ve done that, just ask yourself which number is the one you should be angry about. I may be mad, but for me it’s the second number.
The point about Sir Fred is that it is symptomatic of the incompetence with which this crisis has been handled. He is one of the prime suspects and yet the government hands him the golden handshake of the century. The green bar aptly shows why the blue bar is so unacceptable.
Blue Eyes
February 28, 2009 at 2:18 pm