Turkeys home to roost

I've been made acutely aware of the financial turkeys coming home to roost by receiving a single call from an elderly relative. Aunty X,  by no stretch of the imagination a person of huge personal means, had recently moved her assets to take advantage of better interest rates on offer through internet banks.

I realised with chilling clarity just how truly global our markets had become and the huge implications to ordinary working class people who have saved for a rainy day. Until my old aunt started asking about Icesave, Kaupthing, Santander and ING (said as it's spelt bless her), I wasn't aware how the national barriers had been broken down and a high street name was no longer confined to an M&S. Back to the story; I'm so pleased that more by luck than judgement my old aunt is not going to be joining a list of general creditors to an Icelandic bank, but she could have been and her entire savings could have been wiped out.

The point I want to make is that the European Central Banks and Governments can't sit in their glass houses, there has to be a unified approach to the new set of problems otherwise the State will be picking up the burden, right across Europe, and the cost will be multiplied beyond monetary terms.