Cable attacks banking 'spivs and gamblers' for crippling economy

Totally unsuitable to be Business Secretary.

The man is showing his true colours day by day. Destroying the reputation of British business by likening everyone to the banking and trading community is a sop to his leftie supporters. When he then threatens the payment of dividends to ordinary shareholders, is he forgetting that he is hitting every Private (Note) Pension Fund and the Stocks and Shares ISA (Government encouraged) retirement investments of all the little people who are the only ones fairly paying their way in this country. In any case ,the tax payer will benefit from dividends and some people will require tax credits in the absence of dividends. It stinks of Obama and playing to the crowd.

Agreed, totally unsuitable for the job in hand. So, the Unions are less of a threat to the the UK economy than the Banks? Well,if your view is that the Unions are an irrelevance, this might possibly be true. Or perhaps if all the bankers went on strike and were employed by the Civil Service, maybe? Oh, hang on a minute, I've got it now. How stupid of me. The bankers forced the Labour Government to spend money we didn't have, caused the blow out of the BP rig and rigged the last election to ensure that the Liberals didn't get a majority. It is about time that someone reminded Vince that the Liberals did not WIN the last election and that his point of view is marginal and down right ridiculous. If he pops up to Scotland, he stands a good chance of a free place in a Nursing Home!

I've have found Vince to be a real let down. I was really expecting so much more from him than this. At least Clegg has turned out better than I expected.

Vince Cable is giving out the wrong vibes to the world by unsubstantiated weasel words, generalities that have no substance. If he is talking about takeovers he needs look no further than the big institutions who invest our pension funds. They regularly feature as the thumbs up or down in takeover battles. They clearly do it to gain advantage for the fund holders which is the majority of the populace. Is this the spivs he is talking about? In regard to the Banks I am still waiting for the full story of why the only triple A rated Bank in Europe came to takeover HBOS without due diligence and without disclosure to the Lloyds shareholders that HBOS was already being secretly propped up by the B of E. Perhaps there were spivs behind this? Perhaps Cable can enlighten us on that scandal I am beginning to think he is another windbag, who will achieve very little, there was something nasty about his speech which lacked any hint of real leadership. The Blame game was to the fore.

Is this a smokescreen sent up by Vince Cable to deflect from the shenanigans going on in the Post Office i.e. the renaging on compensation cover by the Bank of Ireland for fixed interest savers who invested prior to 2010?

Don't stop him. Two more speeches like that and we can have another election and get a proper Government.

Yes I agree, a Labour one at that. What Vince Cable says is true about the spivs in the Banking sector. Some like him needs to reign in the Thatcherite tories.

I don't have a problem with Vince's approach to business. He was suggesting, surely, that capitalism tends towards monopoly via takeovers, thus removing competition. He's right. Look at the press. Murdoch is winning. What will you do after he's bought out a few competing websites? Will the owners of Citywire hold out on principle, or take the money and run?

Vince should really have talked about "monopoly capitalism, and he is not wrong about that. This is just a sop so business can go on as usual (thank goodness ....) But he is a bit of a nasty piece of work, I have always thought ... malevolent gnome type...

Vince isn't attacking banking. He's attacking the spiv and gambling facet of banking. Trouble is that many listeners and readers don't distinguish between the two, and regard any such criticism as an attack on British business.

Peter Keatings remark must be from another planet, Why do you think this Country is in such a mess? It was left like it by the 15 years of Socialism which squandered the Thatcher Legacy and heaped ruinous legislation on any enterprising person who dared to go into business.. It is no [pleasure any more building a business and employing people. The state thinks it owns the business and employs an army of non productive busybodies to harass private enterprise. The job it should have been doing through the FSA was grotesquely neglected through Gordon's Light touch. Borrowings are at record levels and nothing to show for it,and the B of E stripped of any reserves. No, Peter you are undoubtedly "In denial" Un fortunately we all have to bare the burden, but many small enterprising people did not get one Iota of benefit in the full 15 years of their misguided socialist state.

I think that Mr Cable's comments are bewilderingly naive and he's just following the fashion of banker-bashing to play to the party faithfull. I'm afraid the reality is that if banks and people who are paid these bonuses are taxed into oblivion, then they will just up sticks and move to a lower tax jurisdiction, at huge cost to the UK economy. Taxation is not the answer - better regulation of banks at a global level is. Basle III is a good start.

Keith D, I completely agree. I have met many spivs in my life but not one who recognised the trait in himself.

We invite bankers to be spivs by allowing them to wrap into client's loan repayments any damn charges they fancy.

I thought Doc Cable was sensisble until I heard his conference speech but I now know he has no idea what so ever about economics, risk reward, capital accumalation etc and lives in a dream world.

The UK's massive structural deficit has nothing to do with banks but all to do with Gord and new Labour thinking that growth and improvements to public services over the last 13 years could be forever paid for by borrowing rather than by taxes paid by a strong, profitable, growing private wealth creating sector.

To put it in simple words Vince, Labour spent more than the country earned.

I've never understood why families and individuals have to live within their means but Labour governments over the years seem to think they are exempt from this economic truth.

We would all like to work simply to better humanity (Captain Picard, Star Trek First Contact) but until then our economy and living standards are based and WHOLLY dependent on private sector profit.

Capitalism and profit is what pays for our schools, hospitals, police(when you can find one),teachers and POLITICIANS.

HSBC, Standard Chartered, Diagio and Unilever to name a few big employers are all going to move their HQs and manufacturing plants abroad if we don't watch out.

What will Doc Vince then say to the thousands who lose their jobs?

Remember Doc not all bank employees are on massive bonuses, 99% are ordinary workers on ordinary wages with families and mortgages and these people will be pretty cheesed off if you drive their jobs overseas by your constant bank bashing.

Also in case you haven't notice Doc, Diagio and Unilever are not banks. The Poles must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of all those lovely UK manufacturing jobs moving to Prague and the Swiss at all those lovely UK banking jobs moving to Genieve.

Keep up the good work Vince, carry on like this and unemployment

will hit the roof. Unless of course if you are politician or public sector worker.

As one of the small savers who invests in uts and investment trusts, I agree with the writer above.labour could not run the the preverbal Welkstall