WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BANKER AND A LOOTER?

To many people, not much at all. The only difference is that bankers do their looting in relative silence in front of a set of computer screens, while the looters do their thang in the full light of day (and night) in front of TV cameras.

But to Mr David Cameron, our Prime Minister, there is a big difference between a banker and a looter.

In a statement to the press yesterday, Mr Cameron said this.

“We will make sure that court procedures and processes are speeded up and people should expect to see more, many more arrests in the days to come. I am determined, the government is determined that justice will be done and these people will see the consequences of their actions.

“And I have this very clear message to those people who are responsible for this wrongdoing and criminality: you will feel the full force of the law and if you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishment. And to these people I would say this: you are not only wrecking the lives of others, you’re not only wrecking your own communities; you are potentially wrecking your own life too.”

[source : http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/london-violence-needless-opportunistic-theft/]

So which people do you think Cameron was talking about? His good friends the bankers and financiers in The City of London who have just wrecked the lives of millions of people by sinking the national and global economies with their criminal gambling? Or the vandals we have seen on TV the last few nights who have wrecked the lives of a relativly small number of people by looting and burning some shops?

Cameron's statement could equally apply, perhaps more so, to the senior bankers in banks such as JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. But Cameron would never ever ever talk to his good friends the bankers and financiers in The City of London like that.

And that is the difference.