Jack Ewing of Dealbook reports from Davos, Switzerland, at the World Economic Forum that bankers in an off-the-record session seemed "more confident and less contrite than in recent years." Uh, when was it that the bankers said they were sorry for bringing down the roof on us?
At one of the opening panels on Wednesday, top executives from Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered warned that new restrictions on their businesses are either irrelevant or threaten to hurt economic growth. ...
For at least one member of the audience, the bankers were a little bit too cocky. Phillip Thorpe, chairman of the Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority, said the banks were setting the stage for the next crisis.
“With no change, we can expect there will be another one,” Mr. Thorpe said afterward. Banks simply have to get used to taking less risk and earning lower returns, he said.
That apparently was met with sneers. After all, the guy is a regulator, evil incarnate from the perspective of the bankers. No doubt they'll be on board with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's push to eviscerate modest new regulations.
Bankers are naturally willing to take the risk as long as their soaring salaries aren't damaged and they've got governments to step in when everything blows up in taxpayers' faces. Then it's just one more round of lemon socialism. Shorter version of their off-the-record session: Heigh-de-ho and full steam ahead to the next crisis.