That Bankers Bonus Issue ... (original) (raw)

Bankers' bonus 'is their human right' - The Sun, 2009 02 10

Referenced from this post.
I think someone should remind the bankers that the only human rights everyone has, and can claim, are the right to continue breathing, and the right to be able to enjoy one's life without getting mugged or otherwise attacked. The only necessities we all need are food in our bellies, clean water and sanitation, sturdy clothing for modesty and to protect against the weather and a bit of shelter, possibly a place to raise children in and give them a good memory.

Everything else - all the rampant greed and capitalism - is just surplusage and excrecence; and in a time of crisis, massive inequality and intransigent social immobility where the poorest, who already live in grinding austerity, have to cut back to the very quick, the extravagance of a handful of people who have got more than two pennies to rub together cannot go unexamined, or indeed unchallenged.

I could summarise my response to the bankers' whingeing in two short words, but both words are unsuitable for a family audience.